


A Series of Fortunate Events - Future Fictions

by angelastjoan



Series: Fortunate Events [3]
Category: Actor RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-31
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-11-17 10:13:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/550462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelastjoan/pseuds/angelastjoan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short stories set in the future of Stormy and Josh's relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Laid Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> July 2014 - Stormy and Josh take it to the courts for some 1 on 1.

**Stormy's POV**

I tracked Josh with my eyes as he skipped backwards down court, his own eyes alert and on the opposing team member dribbling the basketball.  I had paid attention during the first period.  I had paid attention right up until Josh had done this moonwalk/hip swing thing out of boredom.  I had immediately sat up a little straighter and my breath had caught in my chest. 

Josh and I have been dating officially for a month straight.  Towards the end of summer we are supposed to go to Kentucky so I can meet his family for the first time.  But right now we are just enjoying each other and if I have found out any major secrets about Josh that I didn’t know before we made it official it was that Josh is an exhibitionist.

As if I couldn’t tell from his shower placement alone. 

Josh initiated a lot of sex when we were outdoors but I was always the one to put an end to it and wait for us to be inside, preferably in a bed, before I would let him finish what he started. 

Right now we were inside of the Hollywood High gym, taking me back to a time and place when my life was much more difficult and I had been fighting for control of my emotions where Josh was concerned.  The moment I gave up that battle life had become much more bearable.  And nearly every day since that moment just a month ago we had taken pleasure in each other’s bodies.

Andre said we were in the newlywed phase.

I just said Josh was an amazing lover and when he wasn’t inside of me, I craved him.  I needed him. 

At this very moment my thighs clenched together in anticipation.  All from watching him sweat, his hair stuck to his forehead and the back of his neck, little curls forming small c’s against his glistening skin.  I made a small noise that I was sure wasn’t audible but Andre looked over at me funny and then rolled his eyes.  “Get control of yourself.  This is a charity event.”

I whimpered and bit my lip as Josh skidded to a halt in his Velcro shoes.  He leaned with his hands on his knees and I couldn’t help but let out a loud whistle as he shook his ass side to side in time with a remix of some Black Eyed Peas song. 

He looked over his shoulder at me and winked and then turned his attention back to the game.  Camera’s went off all around us and when the whistle blew again signaling half time I waited impatiently for him to make his way to the bench.  He sat down and after a few swigs of water and a quick strategic chat with his teammates he turned on the bench to face me.  I leaned forward and placed my lips to his in a chaste kiss, not wanting to give the fans too much of our private life.  Josh had other ideas, though, and he framed my face with his hands and with his eyes locked onto mine he brought my lips back to his in a slow kiss.  When his tongue traced the seam of my lips I parted them on a sharp inhale of excitement and then his tongue was there and stroking against mine.  It was over much faster than what we would have done in the privacy of our own home but as he pulled back he said, “I can’t wait until I get you home.”

My face lifted at the grin I aimed his way and then I scooted forward a little to say into his ear, “Who said we’re waiting until we get home?”  And then I let my tongue dart out against the lobe of his ear, salty with sweat, and then leaned back. 

Andre sat beside us, half disgusted and half scandalized.  “Would you two stop it!”

I scoot back into my seat on the bleacher and just smile innocently as Josh forms his lips into a tight “o” and blows out a long stream of cool air before he turns back around. 

The second half went much faster.  Josh was a lot less play and a lot more down to business.  Maybe he thought if he won he could get a prize from me.  Little did he know I planned to reward him handsomely either way.

When the game was finally called Josh’s team had won by 17 points.  I waited with Andre as the crowd began to disperse and then I ventured down from the bleachers to the basketball court as Josh signed autographs and took pictures with fans.

I stayed at the other end and bounced the ball a few times.  Then I took a few steps back and bent at the knees.  I held the ball in both hands and then grannied it.  It bounced off the backboard and flew to the side.  I turned to get it and a guy caught it easily and tossed it back to me.  He smiled as he came closer.  “You play much?”

I shook my head as I bounced the ball a few times.  “Nah.  Not really.  I’m not that coordinated.”

His heavy brows came down over an aristocratic nose and in a very detached way I admitted to myself that he was attractive.  He was no Josh though and I looked across the court at where he was still entertaining a few younger girls. 

The guy standing beside me followed my gaze and then smirked in my direction, “Oh, is that the type you go for?”

I smile and shrug, “A girl can dream, right?”

I took another shot, this time nothing but net.  It was a lucky shot and the guy beside me knew that.  “Name’s Adam.”

My eyes darted up to his as I measured his expression for any hint of sarcasm.  When I found none I just nodded and walked backwards, “Nice meeting you, Adam.”  Then I turned and jogged the distance to where Josh was smiling with a little girl in a wheelchair, crouched down beside her.  At the last second she snuck a kiss on his cheek and I laughed while Josh’s mouth opened in a surprised grin.  That picture was going to be pure gold. 

As I came to a stop beside them, staying outside of the frame, the little girl said, “You’re Stormy!”

I nod and reach a hand forward to shake hers.  “I am.  And you must be the girl trying to replace me.”  I put my hands on my hips and stared down at her sternly, “Are you trying to steal my boyfriend?”

She giggled and shook her head, “No, I swear I wouldn’t.”

I smiled easily and leaned down to give her a hug.  “It’s okay, babe.  I wouldn’t blame you if you were.”

She laughed along with me and Josh shook his head.  We all gathered in for a picture, both me and Josh pressing kisses to her cheeks this time.  She finally said, “I read your book and I’m excited for the next one.”

I clapped excitedly.  “September!”

She nodded in return, her smile spreading wider, “I know!  I already ordered it!”

“Come see me when we start the book signings and we’ll grab lunch or something.”

She looked shocked for a second and then I looked up to Josh, unsure if I did something wrong.  I still hung out with Cat and her mom.  What was the big deal?  Josh just laughed and then leaned down, “Maisy, would you like to have lunch with us in September?”

She just nodded slowly, as if afraid to shatter the moment.  “It’s a date,” I exclaim as I give her a high five.

The guy, Adam, headed over and I realized Maisy must belong to him in some capacity.  He exchanged pleasantries with Josh and then winked at me as he wheeled the little girl away.  I stood beside Josh, one arm wrapped around his sweaty waist as people filed out of the gym.  And then we were alone.

He immediately turned to me and pressed a kiss to my temple.  “I need a shower, babe.  Are we still going out to the movies?”

I nod as I grip the front of his mesh jersey in my hands and pull him tight to me.  “We’ll go to the movies.  But first I want you to teach me that thing you did.”

He pressed a hand to the small of my back and rolled his hips.  “You mean this one?”

I shake my head and kiss the corner of his mouth.  “Not quite.”  I turn away from him and run over to pick up a stray basketball.  I dribble it and try to go between my legs, not quite making it.  “How do you do that?”

Josh comes over and grabs the ball from me.  He shows me in excruciating detail how to make the pass from behind and through the legs.  Smirking, he said, “Try to steal it from me.”  I lunged forward and made a swipe for the ball only to completely miss as he passed it to an imaginary team mate.  He faked out from my right and headed to the ball, dribbling in place, waiting for me to approach.

I walked up to him and danced right and left on the balls of my feet, anticipating his next move, my hands loose at my sides.  He faked right like before and then headed left and I followed, ready, swatting the ball out of his hands and then catching it before it could get away.  Not missing a beat Josh came after me and I ran down the court, attempting to dribble the ball at the same time.  I could feel his body brushing against mine from behind and his panting breath sawing in and out and then I was surrounded and before I could shoot his front was pressed to my back and his arms were around me.  He picked me up and twirled me around.  I yelped and struggled to get free, the ball clenched tight between my palms. 

When he set me down I yanked myself out of his grip and took my shot.  It went wide and bounced off the bleachers.  I turned and gaped at Josh.  He shrugged innocently like that wasn’t what he meant to do and I playfully punched him.  “You are such an ass.  I could have made that!”

His brows dropped down and he tilted his head as if to say, “Yeah, right.”  He grabbed me by the arms and pulled me close instead.  “What else did you want me to show you?”

There was a naughty twinkle in his eye and I willingly let my body relax in his grip.  I took a step closer to him and pressed my breasts to his chest.  I dropped my voice and said, “Do you know how fucking hot you were today?  Running up and down the court?”

He grins and leans his forehead to mine, “I got a clue when you catcalled at me.”

“You were swinging your ass back and forth.”

He nods, “I was.”

“I wanted to bite it.”

He pulls back and looks down at me like he’s not sure I really just said that out loud.  “You wanted to bite it?”

I scrape my teeth against my bottom lip, dragging my hands down his chest to the front of his gym shorts before I dip my fingers beneath the elastic band.  “I still do.”  Then I reach a hand past his shorts and into his boxer briefs to cup his rapidly hardening length in my hand.  “And I want to taste you.”

He twists his hips away with a grimace, “Stormy, I’m like super sweaty and I really don’t think you want to do that.”

My hand is trapped in his shorts and I follow along until I’m standing in front of him again.  “Then maybe we should take it to the showers.”

He sucks in a breath and I grin when his dick jumps in my hand as if it likes the sound of that and approves. 

“We’re in a high school.  You think this is the place to engage in extracurricular activities?”

Without hesitating I reply, “Yes.  Yes I do.”  And then I extract my hand and grab him by the front of his sweat soaked shirt and lead him through the double doors to the locker rooms.

As soon as we’re in the relative silence and surrounded by lockers Josh starts to disrobe.  I stop him before he can push his shorts down because I’m distracted by the muscles he’s revealed just by taking off his shirt.  I lean forward and lick the glistening skin above his nipple.  The taste of salt and man causes a deepening pool of desire to form between my legs.  Then I flatten my tongue against his small tan nipple and he grabs me by the waist, his hands flexing against my flesh, uncertainty evident in his grip. 

I move to the sweat matted hair between his pecs and press my nose there, inhaling deeply.  He groans and forces me back into the metal grate of a locker.  His lips roam wild down my neck and to my shoulder.  He pushes the material of my shirt up my stomach and then I raise my arms and let him strip it off.  I’m not wearing a bra, something he knew as soon as he picked me up this morning.  He had asked me then if I was trying to kill him.  I had just smiled and looked away.

Now his mouth falls to my hardened nipple and he works on it with his teeth, pulling gently, while he presses the other between his fingers.  I cry out when he bears down a little harder and my nails scrape across his back, right over the tattoo between his shoulder blades.

My legs shift restlessly and I yelp when his free hand roughly dips down my jeans.  He finds my slick folds quickly and I press my hips towards him, already ready to come.  I’m riding his digits and holding on for stability when he enters me with two fingers and I string together his name with a multitude of expletives as I shatter.

Josh doesn’t wait for me to come down, instead he hurriedly gets me out of my denim and then pushes down his shorts and briefs.  He picks me up and my legs wrap around his waist immediately.  The head of his cock is nudging against my entrance as I gasp out, “Condom!”

Josh groans and puts his head down on my shoulder, leveling his breathing.  He’s taking too long to respond and I cry out loud, “No no no no no!”  I roughly grab his hair and shove his head back so I can look at him, my legs still wrapped high around his torso, “Tell me you have one.  Oh, god, Josh.  Don’t do this to me!”

He shakes his head and I let out a heartfelt groan and let my head fall back to clang against the orange painted metal behind me.  His lips find my clavicle and he pulls my skin between his teeth.  “We can do other things.”

My body reacts to his husky words almost instantly and I stretch against him.  “Like what?”

“Well, we could take a shower.  And then we could do that one thing we haven’t tried yet.”

I scrunch up my face at the thought, “You’re not putting your dick anywhere near my ass, Joshua.”

He barks out a laugh, his whole body shaking against mine.  “I meant sixty-nine, Stormy.  Jesus Christ!”  Then he presses his still smiling lips to mine and says against my mouth, “And one day you’ll let me do that too.  Just wait.”

I narrow my eyes at him and say, “Whatever,” because he’s probably right.  But for now I’m intrigued with this 69 thing.  “Lead me to the shower.”

Soaping each other up and rinsing off was more foreplay than was needed and while I usually enjoyed lingering under the spray with him I was afraid he would wear me out before I got the chance to reciprocate and I really wanted to taste him. 

As soon as the shower was over Josh wasted no time with towels-or pleasantries for that matter.  He wrapped an arm around me and hoisted me to his side, leading me to one of the benches positioned near the wall.  He laid down on his back and I stared down at him, slightly panicked at the thought of what he was insinuating I do.  “You want me to sit on your face?”

Josh grinned and bobbed his eyebrows.  “That’s exactly what I want you to do.”  His hand hooked around my thigh and he pulled me closer.  “Now swing this leg over and sit right down, sexy.”

I swung my leg over, still unsure of this.  I had done a sixty nine before but at that time we had been lying down side by side with plenty of room to maneuver in a bed.  And I had never done one with Josh.  I started to slowly lower myself when Josh grasped my thighs and yanked me down.  His tongue licked along the seam of my lower lips and I gasped and jerked against him.  My hands came down to rest against his hip bones and I shuddered as his mouth went to work.

He plunged deep and I closed my eyes, my chin dropping to my chest as I exhaled shakily.  It wasn’t until he pulled his face away and said, “This is starting to feel a little one-sided here,” that I remembered I was supposed to be reciprocating.

My eyes opened wide and I laughed, glancing down at his cock standing at full attention, just waiting for me.  I mumble an apology and then dip down towards him and swipe my tongue against the head of his dick.  Josh groans against my inner thigh and the sound he makes gives me a pleasant quiver so I grip him in one hand and run my mouth along the length of him before pulling up and then opening wide to take him inside.  Josh pulls me back down to him and buries his face against my pussy and moans, the sound vibrating up through me, my hips rotating in answer. 

Josh found a rhythm while I tried to find focus but it was nearly impossible and soon he was pumping himself into my mouth, taking over while I held onto his thick thigh muscles and rode his tongue.  My toes barely touched the floor but I used the leverage to move myself back and forth.  Then his hand joined in and I swiftly bobbed my mouth up and down his dick in time to his thrusting fingers.

We took turns pleasing each other.  At one point while the head of Josh’s erection rested at the back of my throat and I focused my breathing through my nose he brought me to orgasm, his hands forcibly moving my hips back and forth on his tongue.  The sounds and whimpers that erupted from my throat caused him to spasm and with my hands wrapped tightly around him to hold him still he came.  The animalistic sound ripping from deep within him only served to push me higher.  Knowing I did that.  Knowing it was me he was coming for had my body awash in an otherworldly glow as I pressed myself down against his face and let go, coming in waves as I swallowed his very essence. 

I collapsed atop Josh, my body spent and exhausted while he pressed kisses along my thigh and blew out a heavy breath.  After my heart slowed down I struggled to scoot forward and sit up, Josh’s hands held out to the sides to catch me if I leaned too far in either direction.  Then I swung my leg over until my feet were flat on the floor and my ass rested against his abs.  I looked down at him, shifting my blonde hair away from my eyes.  Josh just grinned up at me, his lips wet with my juices. 

I smiled and ran my hand up and down his calf, fingers tickling through the hair there.  “That was different.”

Josh’s hand rubbed against my lower back and he agreed, “Different; but good.”

“Oh, definitely.  Different; but great.”

“Amazing.”

I laughed and stood up and turned, laughing again when he just piled his hands beneath the back of his head on the wood bench and smiled up at the ceiling, sated and basking in the aftermath.

I grabbed my jeans, forgoing underwear, and pulled them on, enjoying the sight of him laid out before me.  “But Josh?”  He turned his head to look in my direction as I tossed his jersey at him, indicating it’s time to get dressed.  “Next time bring a fucking condom.” 

He sat up and pulled on his jersey and then stood to grab his shorts, not bothering to put his briefs back on.  “I don’t know, I think it worked out okay this time.”

I put my head and arms through my shirt and then I stepped up to him and placed my hand directly against his flaccid cock.  “I loved it, I really did.  But next time, this big boy is going to be deep inside me when I come.”

Josh sucked in a deep breath and grabbed for me as I faked away from him and jumped the bench, stuffing my panties into my back pocket and waving his briefs tauntingly as I backed up to the door.  Josh charged after me and I screamed in surprise as he caught me and hefted me up and over his shoulder.  We laughed, my free hand squeezing his delectable and oh so bitable ass the whole way to the car.


	2. A Different Kind of Sex Swing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sept 2014 - A pivotal point in their relationship and Josh gives Stormy a surprise.

**Stormy's POV  
**

I’m just sitting down with a basket full of laundry when Josh pops his head in through the open sliding glass door.  He bobs his eyebrows at me and grins salaciously.  I can’t help but laugh at him and ask, “What’s up, sexy?”

He comes the rest of the way into the living room and leans in the doorway.  “I have a surprise for you.”

I glanced down and back up and wink, “Is it in your pants?”

He laughs and shakes his head, “No.”  He moves forward and grabs my hands, pulling me up off the couch.  I reluctantly drop an unfolded pair of bowers back into the basket and let him drag me along.  “Close your eyes.”

I scoff and arch a brow at him.  “Josh.”   My voice is laced with warning and he stops before we take more than a few steps into the backyard. 

“Stormy.”  His voice is teasing and he leans forward and kisses the end of my nose sweetly.  Finally, after much eye rolling on my part, I close my eyes with a flourish.  He starts walking again.  I can feel the warm grass under my bare feet and the sunshine on my bare shoulders.  He takes a moment to arrange me and turn my body around and around until I giggle.  I’m aware that he’s just teasing me now.  His voice surprises me when I hear him whisper in my ear from behind me.  “Now open.”

I blink my eyes and take in the landscape, not sure what I’m supposed to be looking for.  I shrug and glance from the fire pit off to the left over to the koi pond in front of me.  “We got new fish?”

Josh huffs out a breath and reaches up to take my head between his hands.  He turns my face to where he wants me to look and I stare off between the trees hanging out at the edge of the lawn.  “I don’t get it.”

“Christ,” he mutters under his breath and then comes around beside me and grabs my hand in his.  His grip is warm with the slight hint of callus from the latest movie he’s had to train for.  The tingle that starts at the base of my spine never ceases to amaze me.  It’s always been this way since the moment I stopped fighting the attraction.  As soon as I let it happen, the chemistry between us had been inextinguishable.  Sometimes it was a look, sometimes a smile.  Most of the time it was the way his thumb rubbed against my hand when he held it in his.  There was something about that simple movement that caused a rush of warmth to spread throughout my body, emanating from my core outward, until I had to press my thighs together to relieve the throb there. 

His thumb sweeps against my hand now and my step falters.  Josh shoots me a questioning glance and I smile innocently in return.  “Now look.”

I look away from him through the copse of trees and I can’t help the laugh that surges from my throat.  “You got one!”

He lets go of me reluctantly as I excitedly move forward.  I test the strength of the trees and realize he’s been sneaky and the ends of the hammock are actually tied tight to a set of poles beside the trunks of the palms.  I raise my eyebrows over at him as I walk around to the opposite side and trail my fingers across the woven strands of material.  His gaze follows the path my fingers take and then raise to meet my eyes across the short distance.  I’m ready for him.

When he speaks his voice is rough with desire, “Do you remember?”

My lips part as a particularly fond memory surfaces of a very memorable night we spent in the backyard of his parent’s house in Kentucky.  He had taken me home to meet his parents just a few weeks ago.  They had been amazing and open and warm and I had immediately fallen in love with each of them.  Our first night there he had led me out to the hammock in the backyard and we had lain there, staring up at the breathtaking display of stars overhead. 

He had kissed me softly, whispering things he wanted to do to me in my ear.  His hands had roamed over my body, under my clothes.  He had brought me to completion with his fingers and I had returned the favor with my hands.  We had slept peacefully, sated in each other’s warm embrace.

My breathing has picked up as I refocus on the present and swim languidly out of the past.  Josh’s eyes have dilated and his hands are clenching into fists at his sides, surfacing from the same memory.  His jaw flexes as he tries to get his body under control and the rush of warmth between my legs causes me to moan his name in a loud whisper. 

He takes a step forward and I say, “I want to be on top.”

He stops and nods jerkily and then continues until he’s lowering himself into the hammock and carefully swinging his legs up until he’s lying flat on his back.  I sink my teeth into my bottom lip as he crosses his ankles and stretches his arms out beside him, affecting a totally relaxed pose.  Aside from his straining erection creating a tantalizing outline through his gym shorts he looks completely at ease. 

My tongue immediately wets my lips and Josh lowers one hand to rub his dick and the other he reaches out to me. 

I’m a pile of contradicting emotions because I can’t decide where I want to start.  He sees this indecision and laughs, the sound choppy but filled with amusement.  He tugs at my skirt and I follow his lead, shimmying it down over my hips and thighs to let it fall to the ground.  I’m left in a wife beater and a sheer thong, standing beside him.  He closes his eyes and groans as if the sight of me is almost too much to bear. 

It makes me smile because that’s how I feel all the time around him.  I push my thong down until it stops around my ankles and I step out of it carefully before I use my grip on his hand to swing a leg over him.  I balance myself on top of him and bend my legs, settling my shins against the mesh on either side of his hips.  I lower myself carefully and nearly double over in pleasure as the jersey material of his shorts comes in contact with my lower half.  I emit a drawn out moan of his name and shift just a little to create the smallest amount of friction right where I’m craving it.

“Stormy.”

I open my eyes to look down at him and I loosen my grip on his hand to bring his palm up, pressing my lips against the center.  His fingers look delectable and Josh’s talents at pleasuring me with simple touches never cease to amaze me.  He can bring me to orgasm with two fingers and it’s something he’s ridiculously proud of.  I move my grip to his wrist and slide his hand down the valley between my breasts against the ribbed cotton of my tank.  His fingers spread across my stomach, his thumb momentarily dipping into the hollow of my belly button.  Then he’s moving through my wet curls and my hand tightens its grip as he brushes across my clit.

My back bows and I shudder as tiny bolts of electricity shoot through my extremities.  Josh’s left hand moves to my knee bent beside him to hold me still while the fingers of his right part my folds.  His middle finger caresses my entrance, spreading my moisture there around and around until I’m dizzy with want.  My hips are raising on their own and finally he sinks a digit into me and I come, shaking and crying out his name, my forearm straining as I hold his hand tight to me as I ride out the waves.

Josh isn’t fazed that I’ve come so quickly.  It isn’t a rare occurrence that when he finally touches me I’m unable to stop my body’s reaction.  I do open my eyes to look down into his smug face and can’t help but laugh. 

He looks so proud of himself and I don’t have the heart to tell him that foreplay for me is sometimes watching him chew a piece of gum.  I don’t tell him that sometimes I imagine his perfectly sculpted jaw between my legs, flexing for another reason, and I can make myself get off by rubbing against the seam of my jeans.  Instead he drags his finger out of me with deliberate slowness and says, “That was one finger.”

I grin back at him and lean down to kiss him.  I say against his mouth, “You want to try to do that again, this time with no fingers?”  I bump my hips forward against his erection and his hands fall to my ass, squeezing me with his palms, guiding me to rub against him as his tongue conquers my mouth.  My hands have nowhere to go because Josh has lost control and he’s surging up against me so I tighten my fingers in the loops near his head and hang on, trying to balance us both. 

One of his hands moves between us to push down the front of his shorts and he wraps his hand around his shaft and directs the head of his cock to my throbbing center.  He thrusts up once and he’s buried deep.  My thighs tighten as he goes wild beneath me.  He’s bucking up into me; his hips straining up and down, his tongue plundering me, his teeth clacking against mine as he holds my ass in both hands and forcibly moves me back and forth.  My orgasm smacks into me, taking me by surprise and I rip my mouth from his and arch my back, screaming his name out loud up through the fronds above us.  He doesn’t slow his pace and the aftershocks that rocket through my body keep me coming.  With our momentum my clit rubs against his pelvic bone and my legs are shaking so hard I know I’m wobbling the unstable surface below us but I am helpless to do anything about it.

Josh realizes this just as the hammock sways dangerously and the angle inside me changes as he drops one foot to the ground to catch us.  I’m too far gone to care.  With the shift of his leg his cock is rubbing against something inside of me and I’m intrigued so I start moving on top of him harder and harder, with each downward thrust my body shudders in anticipation until finally I reach that precipice and with a twist of my hips I topple over, Josh landing on top of me, my ass connecting with the hard pavement.

I stare up at him for a moment in shock.  He’s still buried deep inside of me and his arms are wrapped tightly around me, one hand cushioning the back of my head and the other wrapped around my waist.  His eyes are darting all over my face to make sure I’m fine and I start shaking for another reason.  The hilarity of the situation hits me and I laugh out loud, raising my hands to frame his face. 

His eyebrows drop from their arched position and the two little lines across his forehead smooth out as he rolls his eyes.  “You’re a fucking mess.”

I grin and pull his lips down to mine, wrapping my legs up and around his hips.  “I know.”  Then my hips raise and glide against him and he groans against my open mouth.  I suck in a sharp breath and am barely able to whisper, “Do that again.”  He presses his parted lips against mine and the groan that rumbles out of him into my mouth and down my throat to the pit of my stomach has me gasping out loud.  My muscles clench around his cock in spasms of pleasure as if my body is trying to pull him in deeper and Josh realizes the effect it’s having on me and uses it to his advantage.  He hikes his arm up just the tiniest bit, raising my hips a little further up into the air as he whispers words into my mouth. 

“You feel so good around my cock, baby.”  I swallow a moan and my eyes flutter shut. 

“I want you to come all over me, Stormy.”  I open my eyes at the sound of my name and his hazel orbs are right there, staring back at me, staring into me.  They study mine for a moment before narrowing in determination.  “Come for me.”  My eyes lock onto his and he thrusts as far into me as he can setting off the explosion that follows. 

The darkness that creeps in around my vision seems to only heighten my orgasm and then his mouth is pressed tight to mine as his name works its way up from the depths of my soul, reverberating past my lips and his and the sound of his name echoing between us causes me to tighten my legs around him reflexively as he arches up, his arms banded around me, cradling me tight.  He comes with his hips pressed tight between my legs and his mouth leaves mine as he shouts his release to the empty sky.

He has the decency to roll us over quickly to where his back is against the rough concrete of the patio and I’m curled into his body heat, his knees bent to keep him locked in place as he comes down from his high and his dick softens inside me.

Our breathing returns to normal, synchronized and harmonious.  I place a kiss against the patch of chest hair peeking out from the top of his tank top and he raises my hand to rub his lips against my knuckles.

We’ve only been dating a few months so it’s a shock to me when Josh whispers, “I want to wake up every day to see you sleeping beside me in bed.”  He raises my other hand to his mouth and places gentle kisses there too.  “I want to spend every moment of every day with you.”  I pick my head up and place my chin on his sternum to stare down at him. 

“Josh?”  My voice isn’t quite steady and I’m afraid he’s going to throw out the L word.  He’s told me before that he seems to fall in love fast and hard and while I know we both feel it I don’t think I’m prepared to hear it. 

“I’m asking you to move in with me.”

The tears that spring up in my eyes have me blinking uncontrollably.  “Are you sure?”

He nods with one of those heart melting smiles and he leans his head up to place a kiss against my lips.  “I’m positive.”

I sigh and kiss him again. “I’d love to.”

Josh laughs and lowers his head back to the hard concrete and says, “For some reason I thought you were going to put up more of a fight.”

I turn my head to rest my cheek against his chest.  If only he knew where he was concerned there was nothing to ever fight.  My body, my heart, my mind and soul were his.  Forever.


	3. The Scarecrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oct 2014 - On a Halloween getaway Josh and Stormy encounter a strange place.

“Yo, Dawg, in 0.8 miles you wanna make that rizzle-izzle.”

Stormy looks over at me and bites her lip, grinning. 

I smile back at her and then focus out the windshield through the drizzle-izzle that’s starting.

She has a map out on her lap that she’s referring to because ever since we changed the voice in the GPS to Snoop Dogg, we get lost more often than not.

In approximately half a mile I see the break in trees we need to turn down and I follow the gravel drive as it slopes left and right. I’m more than thankful that we brought the Jeep on this trip. 

This weekend marked our first Halloween together and we were going to spend it isolated in the backwoods of some hick place in Northern California in this little B&B I had found on a quick internet search.

We pulled up to the dilapidated farmhouse, not another vehicle in sight.

My voice was doubtful when I questioned my navigator seated beside me, “Are you sure this is the right place?” 

Stormy checked the GPS one more time and then shrugged. “This was the address you gave me.”

I looked around skeptically. “Kay. Maybe there’s someone home.”

Stormy leaned over and kissed me after turning off the GPS and tossing it into the glove box. “Let’s go see.” Then she was out of the car and across the dying lawn, heading up the wide steps to the house. I followed after at a slower pace, my eyes looking off to the right and left, taking in the scenery.

A tall field of wheat sat towards the back of the house, the very top of a scarecrow and the roof of a barn just visible above it. A slight breeze picked up and cold fingers of air stroked up the back of my shirt causing a tickle on my spine. I shrugged my shoulders in response.

An old rusted out tractor sat to the side of the house and I took a moment to appreciate how still it was out here. The lack of noise and clean air was just what I needed. And a week away from the craziness that had seeped into our lives with the release of Stormy’s second book seemed to take over our privacy. Once upon a time I was the one with the crazy fans.

With the movie of her first book in production, she had been shoved even further into the spotlight and we were adjusting to the newfound fame.

She was taking it much better than I. She was adaptable and seemed to take the punches as they came whereas all I wanted to do was keep her inside and out of reach of the crazy people that suddenly seemed to be everywhere. I was hoping this trip together would ease my mind a little. 

I watched as her blonde head ducked through the doorway, calling, “Hello? Anyone home?” My foot had just come to rest on the bottom step as I made my way up to the door when I heard her scream. 

I pushed off and jumped the three remaining steps, flew through the front door and into a dank hallway that smelled of mold and something sharper. Something metallic. I paused and listened, waiting a beat before saying her name. “Stormy?”

“Josh.” Her head peeked around a corner and her face was filled with panic. “Oh god, you have to see this.”

I made it to the end of the hall and into what resembled a kitchen out of a Leave it to Beaver episode, if the Beav had grown up with the Addam’s family. I saw what had likely caused her out of character reaction. There were wooden shelves lining the walls on either side of the room and on them were jars of…stuff. Discolored liquids with things floating in them. I narrowed my eyes, peering a little closer. One appeared to be filled with a brain. I let out a short laugh.

“Props, babe.” I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her a little closer to the right side of the kitchen. “They’re jars filled with fake body parts.”

The shiver that ran up her spine caused her body to shake right into mine. I had an uncomfortable sensation at the thought that I could be wrong but I shook it off. Her voice was skeptical as she asked, “Are you sure? Because that one looks like fingernails.” She turned her body into mine and curled her shoulders inward. “Ugh, this place is already creeping me out.”

I gave her a squeeze and turned around as I said, “It’s Halloween. They’re probably just getting into the spirit.” 

I pulled up short, my heart nearly jumping out of my chest and Stormy let out another small scream as we were suddenly face to face with a man.

His eyes were fathomless pools of liquid onyx as he stared at us, not making a motion to greet us in any way. Instead he said, “Ya’ll’s trespassin.”

I cleared my throat and offered a hand, “Sorry, sir. We weren’t sure if anyone was home. We’re the couple that booked the room for the next few nights.”

I watched in fascination as he held up a glass jar, like so many of the ones on the shelves, and spit a brown liquid stream into it. His reply was a simple, “A’yup.”

And then he turned, ignoring my hand, and walked back down the hallway and out the front door.

Stormy was shaking her head, an odd look on her face as she said, “I don’t think we should stay here, Josh. This place is not giving me good vibes at all.”

“Well now deary, that’s quite upsettin’ to hear!” 

We both jumped and turned back around to face the voice that had just spoken to us. 

The woman was all in black and her eyes resembled the same dark infinities as the man’s. Her wiry gray hair was left to float around her head in a pile of frizz and her hands were curled in on themselves as if arthritis had set in long ago. 

Stormy verbally backtracked, sincerely upset that she had spoken so negatively and possibly hurt someone’s feelings. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I guess it’s just the way the house is decorated. Josh is more into the scary stuff.”

The old woman looked around the kitchen as if just seeing it for the first time. She walked to a shelf and took down a jar of murky water, cradling it in her gnarled hands. “These aren’t merely decorations children.” She turned towards us, shoving the jar into my hands. I took it from her in surprise and stared down as an eyeball bubbled up to the surface. I was into this spooky shit but this was going a bit far. It didn’t look like some prop eyeball you’d find at a party store. It was realistic enough that it still had all of the tendons attached at the back of it. I grimaced and sat it down on the table since the woman had already turned away from us. “Jimbo will show you to your room. Dinner’s in an hour.” 

I looked down at Stormy and her eyes were wide, staring back at me, shaking her head. Her nearly imperceptible voice squeaked out, “I don’t want to stay here, Josh.” I pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead. With our faces close I whispered back, “Let’s just give it one night. We’ll head to a motel first thing in the morning if you want.” Her eyes measured mine until she softened and gave in. The old lady was opening and shutting cabinets as she moved with purpose around the kitchen. 

Finally I spoke out loud, “So, where can we find Jimbo?”

I heard the woman huff out loud and then open the window above the sink before yelling out, “Jimbo! Gitt’yer behind in here and show our guests to their rooms.”

Stormy looked over at me sharply, having caught the plural of that too. “We only booked one room.”

The old woman pointed at us with a spoon in her loose grip. “You’s two ain’t so much as married. How you expectin’ to share a matrimonial bed?”

Stormy narrowed her eyes, her back suddenly straight and I knew the time for niceties was over. “I’m not sure how it works out here in the country but I’m pretty sure my sleeping arrangements are not any of your business.”

“Missy, while you’re under my roof, I ‘spect you to follow my rules.”

“While you’re being paid with my boyfriend’s money I expect you to not enforce unwarranted rules. I sleep in his bed or we leave now with a full refund.”

I watched in amusement as the two women stared each other down. Finally the elder slowly smiled and said, “Okay, then. I reckon it’ll be fine just this once.”

Stormy sagged back into my side. I knew she didn’t like confrontations, especially with strangers, but she had a few soft spots and one of them was definitely people making comments on our relationship. It got her hackles up and in return aroused the hell out of me. Then again, everything Stormy did aroused the hell out of me.

The back door banged open and a man the size of a lumberjack stomped through it. “Whatchu want ma?”

“Take this lovely couple up to their room, darlin’. We need to get them nice and settled in for a long night.”

He looked us over and his gaze stopped in all the right places on Stormy. I suddenly didn’t care that he had at least a foot of height on me. I wanted to kick his ass. Stormy just stayed tucked into my side and then the behemoth marched past us down the hallway to the stairs. His boots thunked with every step and I followed after, Stormy pulling up the rear. Our bags were out in the Jeep but I figured we’d grab them after. I didn’t want to leave her in here with the big guy and my chivalrous side wasn’t comfortable having her go out alone to get the bags. I followed a few steps behind until we reached a small bedroom at one end of the house. 

Jimbo, ever the gracious host, pushed open the door and grunted, then he turned to leave. At the last second he looked back and gave us an ominous warning, “Don’t go out in the field. Don’t go out to the barn. No matter what ya hear in the night. Got it?”

Stormy stared up at him, nodding in surprise while I answered, “Okay, sure. No snooping. Got it.”

He grunted and gave me a withering look and then turned and headed back down the stairs. Stormy turned to me and said, “Holy shit. That was a lot of man.”

I feigned hurt and grabbed her up in my arms, walking her to the single bed. “I’ll show you a lot of man.” She giggled as we fell onto the comforter, the bed springs squeaking in protest as I nipped at her skin and ran my fingers down her sides. Her laughter carried through the room as I playfully tickled her. After she called Uncle I settled in beside her, curling my body close to hers so we both fit on the twin mattress. 

She sighed and pressed her lips to the skin on my arm, speaking against me. “I guess it isn’t so bad here.”

I smiled against her hair. “Offer still stands. We’ll see how it goes tonight and if you can’t take any more of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family we’ll go find a nice, overpriced hotel with all the amenities to stay in.”

I felt her shudder and her response made me laugh. “If we go down to dinner and there’s a table full of dead people and they’re wearing other people’s faces and skin suits I’m getting the fuck out of here.”

We laid there like that, just enjoying each other’s company as the room grew dim from the darkening sky, talking for nearly an hour before we heard a sharp female voice yell out, “Dinner’s done!”

We both hopped off the bed and I followed Stormy down the hall making spooky ghost noises. She replied with, “Our first course, brain stew.”

“And our second course will be finger sandwiches. Mwahaha.” 

She elbowed me and giggled. “If anything on my plate resembles a human part I’m not waiting until morning.”

We made it to the kitchen and just stopped. My hand held hers and our eyes looked all around the room at the tapered candles sitting snug in their holders, casting an eerie glow around the kitchen. What was probably meant to be a romantic gesture turned the whole scene into something macabre. 

The table was set for two and there was some sort of stew sitting in bowls on a plate. A platter of spaghetti sat in the center and there were two glasses and a bottle of wine beside each serving. I led Stormy over to the table and pulled out her chair. She sat down and then waited for me to do the same. Her eyes darted all around the room and then fell back to me. 

“I’m totally okay with this.”

I raised my eyebrows at her, waiting for her to elaborate. 

“I mean, we just got a lecture about sleeping in the same bed and now we’re being fed a romantic dinner for two? I bet she poisoned the food. I bet the wine has rufies in it. I bet there’s sleeping powder in the soup and then we’re going to fall asleep and when I wake up I’ll be in a bathtub covered in ice with my organs missing and a phone taped to my hand, but I won’t be able to call for help because they probably don’t even get reception out here!”

She ended the tirade on a whispered yell and I laughed, shaking my head. I grabbed her hand across the table and said, “Just breathe. Christ, Storm. Watch enough scary movies?”

She rolled her eyes and let me pour her a glass of wine. “Okay, but just wait.”

At that very moment we heard a scream from the darkness outside of the still open window above the sink. Night had fallen already and it proved to just add to the creepy ambiance.

We both turned to look at where the barn sat in the distance. The air outside was quiet and still and we waited with bated breath for any other sound. 

“Owls.” I looked over at her and she shrugged. “It was either a screech owl or someone’s being fucking murdered in the barn, okay? I’m pretending it was an owl.” Then she slugged back the wine in her glass, made a face, and then wiggled her cup at me asking for more. I poured her another and then sat back in my seat. 

We made it through the stew, neither of us able to identify the broth, meat, or vegetables and then we each had a small serving of pasta. Stormy had 4 glasses of wine and I stuck with just one. For someone worried about being harvested for their organs she sure seemed ready to get plastered. After dinner she smiled at me lazily and said, “I’m drunk.”

I laughed and ran a hand through her hair. “Why don’t we sit outside on the porch and get some fresh air?”

She let me lead her to a wooden swing hanging from the rafters and we curled into each other’s warmth and let the cool night air wash over us. We were facing the Jeep and the front yard and I reminded myself to get our bags from the back seat but the yard looked really dark and the car looked very far away. “I still need to get the bags.” I said it out loud as much for my benefit as for hers.

“Don’t bother. I don’t think I can stay here another night.”

I sighed and nuzzled the top of her head with my face. “I’m sorry this didn’t turn out like I thought.”

Stormy sat forward suddenly. Her eyes were focused out into the yard. “Do you see that?”

I looked off to where she stared into the darkness. I could faintly make out the silhouette of something dancing on the breeze. “Kind of. What is it?”

She was on her feet, ready to investigate. “It looks like a person. Maybe they’re lost.”

I grabbed her hand before she could run off into the darkness. “You stay beside me. We’ll go see together.” She tightened her grip on mine and we walked cautiously across the front lawn towards the edge of the property. The closer we got, the clearer it was.

“Is that a scarecrow?” Stormy reached out to touch the decaying material as if someone had stuck this out here and forgotten about it. “I don’t remember seeing it when we drove up.”

“Me neither.” But then again we hadn’t really been paying attention. Stormy’s hand ran down the front of what might have been a coat at some point. Another scream much like the one from during dinner rent through the air and Stormy yelped and practically jumped on me. 

“Holy shit.” She clutched her hands into fists and placed them against her stomach. “I swear this place is going to give me a heart attack or at the very least an ulcer.” 

I gave the scarecrow one more look over before turning us back toward the house. “Let’s just head upstairs and get to bed. I’m with you. I’m not sure I could deal with another night here.”

We walk back to the house, Stormy glancing over her shoulder at the scarecrow every few feet. It isn’t until we’re upstairs and in bed when she says softly, “I don’t want to cause any alarm but I’m pretty sure that scarecrow was watching us.”

I grin and kiss her temple, folding her tight next to me under the quilted blanket. “Oh really? Maybe it was just checking out your ass.”

She elbows me in the stomach and giggles, “Stop it. I’m serious here.”

I drop a hand between our bodies where her ass is snug up against my thighs and squeeze one cheek in my palm. I press my lips to her ear and whisper, “I’m serious, too. You’s a fine motherfucka, won’t you back that ass up.”

Stormy laughs loudly and then covers her mouth with her hands. “Stop it. You’re going to make me wake up the house.”

I push my hips into her rear and channeling Juvenile I follow up with, “Call me Big Daddy when you back that ass up.”

Her head turns to the side and she presses her mouth to the pillow as she laughs again. 

I’m not sure what her comeback is because there’s the sound of a pebble or something hitting the window and then two short screams that are clearly not an owl. Stormy jumps and clings to me. “What was that?”

I swallow hard and look towards the window. “Maybe I should go check.”

She scoots up to the headboard and pulls her knees to her chest as she watches me pad barefoot across the room to the window. Figuring a tree branch might have scraped across the glass from a breeze, I’m surprised to look out and not see a tree at all. Not anywhere near. I turn towards her and shake my head. “I don’t know.”

Stormy motions me back over and I climb back into bed beside her. Her voice is filled with worry as she asks, “Is it too late to change my mind and say we should leave right now?” 

I glance out towards where the barn is lit from the upper loft. I think I see movement and get out of bed once again to look closer. 

When I get to the window I push up the sill and listen as if I can hear anything from far away. There’s movement at the edge of the wheat field that draws my attention downward and I stare into the darkness where the light barely reaches at the scarecrow. 

“What the fuck.”

Stormy gets out of bed and walks over to me, a pillow hugged to her stomach. She stares down where I am and says, “Is that-?”

I nod. “I think so.”

A scream, a human’s voice calling out a name, travels through the air and we both look up at the barn. When I shift my gaze back to the scarecrow it’s gone. “Where did it-“

Stormy jumps away from the window and startles me as she yelps. “Oh my god. Look down. Oh shit.”

I glance straight down below us at the scarecrow. I whisper, “Fuck!” and do the same, flattening myself on the other side of the window, pressing myself to the wall. 

Stormy’s eyes are watery as she says, “I really want to go home now, Josh.”

There’s a scraping noise on the side of the house and I’m too afraid to look out the window to see if the scarecrow has moved. I picture it trying to climb the side of the house to get to us and I start to shake, my nerves suddenly shot. 

The woman or whatever that is in the barn screams out a name again only this time I’m sure it’s mine. Stormy gasps and stares over at me. “I swear Josh, if this is a prank, I am never talking to you again. I’m so done. We are over. I cannot!”

I’m shaking my head in denial. “No. I swear I didn’t set this up.”

The scraping sound against the side of the house sounds closer or maybe it’s just my imagination and I lunge for the window and slam it shut, quickly twisting the lock into place. 

I hurriedly walk over to the chair near the bed and put my jeans on before pulling on my socks and my t-shirt. Stormy has followed my lead and she’s quickly getting her clothes back on too. We’re both tying our shoes when the bedroom door slams open. Our screams echo through the room, both of us startled and huddling together on the bed. Stormy starts to cry. The doorway is empty, there’s no serial killer waiting for us with a kitchen knife. The door slams shut again and she’s quickly in my lap, holding on to me, openly sobbing. 

“Get me the fuck out of this place!”

I stand up with her, practically carrying her on my hip like a small child. She’s trying to get her wits but between the voice screaming my name from out in the field and the intermittent scratching against the clapboard siding of the house, she’s holding her shit together about as well as expected.

In some part of my mind I’m waiting for someone to jump out and start clapping. Any minute now camera crews are going to converge on us and tell us we’ve been on Scare Tactics or a Spooky edition of Punk’d. 

None of that happens though and I open the door to our bedroom slowly, not sure what to expect on the other side. Stormy has the keys in her hand and she’s trying her best not to shake them around and cause too much noise. Her face is pressed to my neck to stifle her out of control breathing. There’s no one waiting on the other side of the door, no one in the hallway.

I lead her to the stairs and with the front door in plain sight she lets go of me. I grab her back and hold on tight and say, “Stay close. I know you just want to get out but if someone is waiting down there I’d rather you not run right into them.”

She sucks in a breath as if just having that same thought and nods, her whole body shaking but willing it to cooperate. We descend one step at a time and when we reach the bottom we are both holding our breath, waiting. When nothing comes around the corner at us I push her in front of me towards the door, watching our backs. When Stormy jerks the front door open and steps outside and screams I immediately yank her back and turn my body, shoving it against the door to latch it. “What? What is it?”

She’s sucking in air as she says, “That thing is just standing out there.”

“How is that even possible? Isn’t it attached to a god damn stick in the ground?”

She swallows and wraps her arms around herself as she replies, “I don’t fucking know, okay? I don’t know what the hell is going on. I just want it to stop!”

I pull her towards me and hold her close. I’m just as freaked out as she is but with her propensity for anxiety attacks it’s up to me to keep her calm and it’s something I usually pride myself on. I attempt to even out my breathing and my hand is on the doorknob, ready to lead my woman to safety, when the back door at the other end of the hallway inside the kitchen bursts open. 

I don’t even stop to check what is going on. I open the front door and pull Stormy through with me, rushing down the steps and past the scarecrow standing not even five feet from us. I wait for her to hop up into the Jeep and then I follow her. There are screams echoing through the air as I twist the key in the ignition and wait for the engine to catch. As soon as my headlights flash on I get a good look at the scarecrow and press my lips together to keep the bile in.

It’s not a scarecrow at all. It’s a man with half of his face sliding off. His eyes are human as he stares out at us from where no eyelids rest. Stormy screams as she manually slams her lock shut on her door and stares ahead at the man as he wobbles closer to the grill of the Jeep. I throw the gear into reverse and slam on the gas and we shoot backwards. I perform a quick 3 point turn and fly down the driveway much faster than what is safe, kicking up gravel as we flee from the freak show that is Cane House.

When we make it to the highway, Stormy is practically attached to my side and shivering uncontrollably. I’ve turned the heater on to try to ward off the chills but we’re both still pretty shaken up. I drive south in silence and pass hotel after hotel. I doubt neither of us would sleep well right now and it’s only a few hours until we get home. I’d rather drive all the way home in the dead of night and sleep in my own bed, if I can sleep at all, than be any closer to that freaky house than we have to be.

Stormy barely speaks the whole drive and when she does it’s just to say, “We should call the cops.” Or “Maybe it was some elaborate Halloween set up.”

I want to believe in the latter.

Four hours later we’re home and Stormy has turned on every light in the house. She’s propped up against the headboard with a blanket pulled up to her chin as she boots up the laptop to Google the place we just came from.

She doesn’t even have to hit enter to search. I’ve turned the TV on as I pace around the room, trying to figure out what to do, when we hear the news report, “In Northern California at the Bed and Breakfast known as The Cane House authorities were called to the scene after noise disturbances.” They show an aerial view of the house and the property is lit up from the spotlight on the helicopter. I sit down heavily on the side of the bed and Stormy wastes no time abandoning the laptop to scoot up to my back. She wraps her arms around my torso and rests her chin on my shoulder as we watch the scene unfold in front of our very eyes.

“The residents of Cane House were all arrested after it was discovered they were harvesting organs in their barn.”

Stormy sucks in a breath and breathes out, “I fucking knew it.”

It went on to explain how the kitchen was filled with jars of left-over parts they couldn’t get rid of and then the picture minimized to the upper right corner of the screen. I leaned back against Stormy, her soft curves pressed into the muscles on my back when she made a muffled noise. I sat forward, looking where her hand was pointed to the small picture. The scarecrow hybrid, with his arm attached to the cross beam, had wandered into the picture as it panned across the field. I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination but it looked like his head tilted back with a smile and his hand lifted in a wave. 

And then the report ended. 

I got up to shut off the TV instead of hunting down the remote and turned back around to watch Stormy stare up at me, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. I had to ask because I knew that pose. “What are you thinking?”

She scooted back in the bed and waited for me to join her before she voiced her thought out loud. “We walked right up to that scarecrow-person-thing and it didn’t do anything. Nothing.”

It made me sick to think that we had both touched whatever it was but I pulled the blanket up around us and said, “Okay. I’ll agree that it had a good opportunity to steal our flesh off our bodies.”

Her small hand slaps at my chest and she says, “That’s just it. He could have done something but instead he scared us away.”

I catch her hand in mine and bring it to my lips, pressing a thoughtful kiss to her knuckles. “You think he was warning us to leave.”

Her nod against my chest has me shifting lower into the blankets. “Okay, I can get on board with that. But what do you want to do about it? Want me to drive back up there and ask him if he wants to hang out? Bring him home so he can scare the shit out of our friends and possibly give us strokes at an early age?”

She shakes her head. “Get real, Josh. Jeez. It was just a thought.”

We don’t sleep until the sun is starting to rise a couple hours later. And in my dream the scarecrow man is wobbling through the wheat field with a smile on his face, happy he no longer has to hear the screams coming from the barn and he doesn’t have to deal with the creepy family that owned him.


	4. Full-Service Stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> July 2015 - On a cross country road trip they find a little relief in an abandoned gas station.

**Stormy's POV _  
_**

_McComb, Mississippi_

I pull my knees up to my chest on the spacious passenger seat, bare toes resting on the edge of the leather as I sway with the music.

Josh taps his fingers on the steering wheel in time to Snoop Dogg, singing under his breath.  His sunglasses are cheap, plastic neon green stars and his unkempt hair that blows in the wind is a testament to how long we’ve been on the road.

Josh had just wrapped Journey 3 four days ago.  The last photos of him in public were of him getting off the plane and me running to meet him at the terminal.  His arms had opened wide, ready to catch me as I launched myself at him.

Him holding me tight at the waist and my legs hugged around him as I covered his face in kisses had made the front page of every tabloid the next day. He hadn’t been seen afterwards because I had immediately sequestered him in the bedroom for twelve hours straight.  After we had worn each other down through various bouts of sex and sleep Josh had surprised me with a cross country road trip.  We had been talking about taking one since before we had started dating. 

Back when I had simply been a house guest it had become a regular topic of conversation whenever we would partake in a late night toke.  Josh would ask where I’d go if I could and I would always reply, “Everywhere.”  Whenever I would ask Josh he always named a different place.  He wanted to backpack through Europe.  Climb a pyramid.  Run with the bulls.  One time I asked right after we started dating as we lay tangled in each other’s arms, my legs still limp and boneless and my back pressed into pillows on the floor of his room after we had passed a J for a little while.

His response that time and any time after was, “Wherever you are.”  If I hadn’t already fallen in love with him months before I probably would have then.

Our trip across country by car had been more about being adventurous than any special destination.  We had a road map, Josh’s BMW and a case of water as well as bags of snacks.  The gps had long since been put away in the glove box and our phones had lost their charges around Houston.  We had checked in with Andre at the last stop and he had assured us that Driver was fine and we were missed.  Josh was a hot commodity at the moment and he had been since the Hunger Games series began, the last one yet to be released.

He had been offered multiple roles that he’d turned down to instead work on a few side projects.  He had chosen to do Journey 3 over a remake of the original Back to the Future baffling Hollywood in the process.  I knew Josh well enough by now to understand that it was his way of showing his appreciation to one of the franchises that had boosted his career.

He hadn’t tried to explain it, though, just stating that he wanted to do the trip to the moon and he had been applauded by his fans for being true to himself even if his agent and the producers didn’t understand.  Josh had given Hollywood everything by portraying Peeta and he had earned his way.  And this break.

Reprising the role of Sean Anderson had been a fun experience for Josh and that was what had mattered.

Josh’s fingers continue their staccato on the steering wheel as the song changes on the the iPod while I uncap the bottle of Rendezvous Red nail polish.  With my tongue peeking out from between my teeth I carefully apply a long, thick stroke of colored polish to my toe.

The car bumps along over the rutted back roads as Josh happily sings with gusto to Wiz Khalifa.  We have indeed rolled one and we have already smoked one.  This guy clearly knew what he was talking about.

Josh stopped singing after claiming to be young and wild and free at the top of his lungs.  I glance over at his suddenly serious expression.  “You okay, babe?”

“The check engine light just came on”

I’ve just finished my left foot, proud of my impromptu pedicure, and recapped the bottle when the car makes a loud knocking sound and sputters to a halt, kicking up dust in a dirt cloud around it.  I turn to face Josh who looks over at me and sighs.  “Don’t say it.”

My smile slowly blooms across my face.  I won’t say it but he knows I’m thinking it anyways.  I had told him taking the back roads would be a bad idea.  But Josh had thought it safer to smoke a blunt while not driving along the highway, less chance of getting pulled over and more discreet.  I had tried to explain to him that his baby wasn’t made for off-roading and that the grooves in the road could mess up his alignment or even his shocks, possibly knocking something loose.

I don’t need to say it because he knows I was right.  He groans as he thunks his head against the steering wheel. 

“Do you want me to take a look?”

He rolls his head to the side, aiming a particularly lethal glare at me.  Josh knows cars and engines and how to change a tire.  In my teenage years I had hung around a junker repair shop and I had picked up a few things.  It drove Josh crazy to know I could diagnose his baby quicker than he could.

I smile sweetly in return and slip my feet into flip flops before getting out of the car and walking around to the hood.  “Pop it!”

Josh pulls the lever to release the latch and I slide my fingers along the gap until I find the extra release button.  I pull up gently and lock the hood in place.  The dark smoke that billows out at me is not a good sign and I immediately look for the oil pan.  The filter has popped loose and the clips holding it in place have broken off, probably from all the bouncing along on the unpaved roads for the last few miles.  I peek around the hood and make a face at Josh.  I can almost hear him groan from where I stand as he shakes his head and leans back in his seat, slouching down with a pout. 

I attempt a quick patch job but I know it isn’t going to hold for much longer and the risk we take of travelling with it like this could ultimately kill the engine. 

I look around, hand shielding my eyes from the glare of the sun overhead, and spot a mile marker in the distance.  I let the hood fall shut, catching it with my fingers and then slowly release it to lock in place.  Turning to Josh as I pull my hair back in a quick ponytail I say, “I’m going to go up ahead and see what that sign says.”

Josh stares at me through the windshield for a long moment, his eyes serious behind the barely darkened lenses of the dollar store sunglasses.  I can see him arguing with himself and I cross my arms, tapping my foot impatiently.  That seems to prompt him into motion and he gets out of the car, keys jingling in hand as he walks over to me.  “Okay.  Let’s go exploring.”

It’s not far to the sign but Josh stops in front of me and leans down, offering me a piggy back ride.  I jump on and wrap my legs around his waist and one arm across his shoulders and his chest.  His white t-shirt is sticking to him with sweat and I press my face into his neck and breathe in his scent, my lips brushing the collar of his V-neck.  He smells like sunshine and weed and pure man.  My panties dampen almost immediately and in response I suck the skin of where his shoulder and neck meet between my parted lips and trail my tongue across the captured flesh.

Josh’s hands are behind him, holding onto my thighs and I shudder at the way his fingers tighten on my bare flesh.  “Cut it out, Storm.”

I smile against his neck and release his skin, grinning at the light purple mark I’ve left behind.  “Only because you asked so nicely.”

Josh laughs and reaches his right hand further backwards, twisting his torso to the side and swats me on the ass.  I lean down and bite his shoulder, making him falter for a step.  It’s not far at all to the sign and I slide down his back as I look up at the blue background of the marker for a gas station.  It’s just half a mile away. 

Josh glances over at me, asking me silently if the car will make it that far.  My face breaks into a grin as I nod.  “It should be fine.”  I lean into him and kiss the stubble on his cheek.  Then I turn and make a run for it as I yell back to him, “Race you!”

I beat him to the car just barely, flinging myself through his door and scampering across the console to my seat.  Josh is panting as he slides in behind me and plugs the key into the ignition.  I remind him to take it easy and we bump along slowly in the direction of the gas station.  Nearly ten minutes later after moving at a crawl the smoke is wafting out from under the hood in wispy tendrils as we pull into the gas station.

I look around us and run my tongue across my teeth.  It looks abandoned.

The gas pumps have been removed and a metal ice cooler sits unused in front of dingy boarded up store windows.

Josh seems to have come to the same conclusion as I have because he turns off the car and forms his hands into fists, waving them in the air angrily before punching the dash.  I wince and look down at his raw knuckles.  He’s flexing his hand and ignoring me because he knows if he vents to me I *will*tell him that I told him so and I have no issue with rubbing that fact in his face.  Instead he wisely keeps quiet while I get out of the car and look around.  I move to the hood and wait for Josh to pop it once again.  I hear the telltale pop and I prop the hood up and move back as the black cloud pours out of it. 

I leave it open and check to make sure the engine is still cooperating.  There’s nothing more I can do so I wait for the air to clear out, waving my hands to disperse the smoke, and then let the hood fall shut once again.  It’s not drivable and I’m sure Josh has figured that out by now.  I move around the car, coming to rest against the driver’s side door, my arms crossed along the opening where the window is rolled all the way down.  Josh has his eyes closed and his lips are pressed tightly together in frustration.  I can’t help it and instead of asking him if he wants me to find him some ice for his hand I lean in the opening and press a kiss to his bunched up jaw.  He releases a breath and opens his eyes to study me.

“You can say it now.”

I could.  But I don’t want to.  “Nah.  That moment has passed.”

He raises his uninjured hand and brushes my hair back behind my ear, playing with the silken strands.  “Why are you so good to me?”

I bob my eyebrows playfully and reach a hand in to him, cupping his chin and bringing his face closer to mine.  “Because someone has to take care of you.”  And then I press my lips to his and clench my thighs together while liquid desire pools at my core.  His bottom lip is plump and soft and I suck it into my mouth and run my tongue across it.  His groan vibrates against my lips and suddenly I can’t get close enough and strain my upper body as I try to reach more of him. 

Josh pulls away after a moment and removes the ridiculous sunglasses as he motions me back, opening the driver’s side door and unfolding himself from his seat.  I’m not totally prepared when he slams the door and grabs my arm, swinging me around and then backing me up against the dirt covered exterior by the seam of the door.  His hips press close to mine and his erection is hard against my thigh, my body instantly melting against his.  My bare legs rub against the denim of his longer shorts and my whole body shivers in anticipation.  I run my fingers through his hair as he shoves himself up against me, grinding his lower half into mine.  His hard cock notches to the seam of my cut offs, the throbbing at my center trying to grasp and release as if he’s already inside me.

I fist my hands at the nape of his neck, twisting my fingers in the short curls that are matted down with sweat.  I pull his face from mine and look around, taking the chance to make sure we are truly alone before I bring his mouth back to mine.

Josh’s lips are demanding and I know he’s going to want it rough by the way his breathing has changed and his hands are gripping my hips.  Instead of grinding into me he’s directing my body forcefully, rubbing me up and down his stiff length.  My legs are resting on his powerful thighs and my feet swing with each motion, my toes pointed toward the ground as my arches tighten in my feet.   

I can feel my orgasm creeping forward and I pull my mouth from his to whisper his name.  “Josh, oh, Josh.  Fuck.  Fuck.  I’m coming, baby.”  Josh’s mouth finds the sensitive spot behind my ear and he sucks the soft skin into his mouth, whispering my name, breathing permission for me to let go into my ear and I come unraveled, his name a half shout on the still air around us.  My fingers slip from his hair as I become utterly boneless and his fingers move from my hip to the frayed ends of my shorts, moving under the denim material and to my sweet spot, sliding between the wet cotton of my panties and the soft flesh of my labia.

He twists his hand and sinks his middle finger deep into me, the aftershocks of my orgasm trapping his digit inside.  I lean back heavily against the once shiny metallic surface of the car and whimper while his finger curls into me and touches a magical spot.  My feverish movements return as I move myself up and down, riding his middle finger, the denim of my shorts rubbing against my clit with every jerk of my hips and I cry out, letting a new wave of euphoria take me under and over simultaneously.  I can feel the approach and I don’t know how to tell him how close I am so I tug relentlessly at his hair, not sure what I’m even asking him to do.  Josh, however, is great at reading my silent signals and he pulls his finger from me, slowly, my internal muscles reluctant to let him go.   

Instead he sinks in front of me on his knees and unbuttons and unzips my shorts in no time.  He has them down over my hips, past my thighs, and on the ground around my ankles with little effort.  My panties follow quickly and I gasp in a mixture of excitement and horror at what he’s doing.

“Josh.”  I push his head back as he dips his mouth towards my stomach.  “We’re practically out in the open.  Anyone can see.”

Josh looks over his shoulder and then looks back at me satisfied with our position.  “No one can see us.  We’re practically hidden away.”  He leans forward and presses his nose to my clit, inhaling deeply.  “And fuck, Stormy.  You smell so god damn good.”  He licks his lips and my body clenches tight in response at the sight.  “I bet you taste even better.” 

My eyes practically cross with the overwhelming need to feel his mouth on me right there so I lean back and place my hand against the top of his head, leading him to my throbbing clit.  “Try it.”  Josh’s hands hold my knees in place as he delivers one long stroke of his tongue to my juicy lips.  My legs shake in reaction and my fingers grasp his hair as I moan long and low.  “How do I taste, baby?”

Josh places his lips against me and sucks me into his mouth, his tongue flicking the bud of my clit back and forth.  He releases me to say, “Amazing.  You taste so fucking amazing.”  Then his face is back in my pussy and I’m gyrating against his mouth as his tongue moves into me in a short stabbing motion while his nose nudges my bundle of nerves.  I clasp the back of his head with both of my hands and hold his face tight to me, buried in the apex of my thighs, as I chant his name and ride his tongue. Josh’s hands maneuver upwards, one sneaking around to my ass to hold me in place and the other up to my cunt where his fingers join his tongue and suddenly I’m full and I’m sobbing his name while my whole being is ripped apart, my head tilted back as my eyes lose focus on the clouds above.

I quake against him and he softens his ministrations as I come down.  His hold on me and his shoulders pressing me back against the car are the only reason I’m able to continue standing.  I loosen my grip on his hair and play my hands through the soft locks that are now in total disarray.  Josh looks up at me with a satisfied smile and one eyebrow arched playfully.  I can’t help but smile down at him.  He always looks so proud of himself after I’ve come and I can only be grateful that he’s such a thoughtful guy.  I grip the material of his white t shirt at his shoulders and pull him up, his hands dropping from their resting places as he straightens to his full height in front of me.

I stare up at him, my mind racing with the possibilities of what’s about to happen.  Josh can be a very sweet lover; tender and caring.  He has given me two glorious orgasms and a part of me is aware that that can only mean one of two things.  He is either feeling extremely generous today.  Or he’s about to fuck me hard and fast and he doesn’t plan on waiting for me to come. 

I can’t decide which one I want more. 

The narrowing of his eyes and the thinning of his lips give him away a split second before he forcibly turns me around and presses his front to my back, his hands trapping me against the side of the car.  He dips his head to the nape of my neck and bites down on the skin there.  My bare ass leans back against his lap and my breath quickens in excitement.  His breath is hot against my cheek as he nips my earlobe with his teeth and says, “I want you spread out across the hood of my car.  I want to fuck you out in the open where anyone could drive by and see.”  He releases my ear and licks down my neck to my bare shoulder, roughly shoving the spaghetti strap of my tank top down before placing his mouth against the skin there and scraping his teeth against me.  “Are you ready, baby?”

I nod with a jerk of my head and Josh immediately wraps his arms around my torso, pausing to let me kick my shorts off from around my feet, and carries me to the front of the car where he lays me down gently on the warm metal.  I hiss as my bare skin comes in contact with the heat from the sun but Josh is stripping his shirt off and unbuttoning his shorts and I reach out with my hands to urge him along faster.  I need him naked and inside me and I make animalistic noises in the back of my throat trying to convey this to him.  Our hands rush to get him freed and once he’s sprung he climbs up the hood on all fours prowling after me.  I sink my top teeth into my bottom lip as he grabs my legs and spreads them at the same time using his hold to pull me towards him.  One hand lands loudly beside my head near the hump where the air intake is and the other reaches beneath me to the small of my back and lifts me at the perfect angle for him to drive himself into me. 

He sinks his head down as he shoves all the way in and pauses for a moment as if he’s forgotten how to breathe.  My heartfelt groan as he slowly drags back out of me seems to send him into a tailspin.  My hands are against his bare chest, fingernails scraping his nipples, and Josh’s hold on my ass tightens as he hammers into me.  His speed has picked up and his hip bones are bruising as our flesh slaps together.  He hits something deep inside of me and I whisper his name to notify him of this.  His face is a blank slate and I can tell he’s not interested in whether or not I come this time.  I can tell he’s looking for a release more than anything else so I hurriedly run my hands down his sides to his back where I splay my palms out wide and drag them down the soft hair above the waistband of his shorts.  I grab onto the belt loops, hitch my legs up his waist a little higher and buck against him.  He hits that spot again and little explosions of colored gems enter my vision.  “Josh.”  I whisper his name again but he isn’t hearing me.  He’s plunging into me with single minded purpose and I let go of one belt loop to slide my hand into the back of his shorts, grabbing a palm full of his perfectly rounded ass.  He rises a little higher onto his knees, hitting that spot over and over and over and my body curls in on itself, or tries to.  Instead I squeeze his flesh harder and my cunt is twitching around his cock, waiting for the implosion.  He drops his head forward and the wet heat of his mouth closes around my nipple through the thin cotton of my tank, sucking.

His teeth bite down a little harder than I’m used to and I unravel, trying to push him away and pull him closer all at once.  My mouth is open on a silent scream as I come, my hands tightening on the material of his cargo loops and the stars behind my eyes finally burst across my vision, rendering me blind.  My heart pounding incessantly in my ears deafens me.  I feel his hands shaking me as I continue to release myself, unwinding from my core.  Reaching out to him even as he pulls me into his embrace, even as my limbs stay locked where they are, cradling him into my body. 

My vision clears as I blink and I’m stunned to realize there are tears rolling down my cheeks towards my ears on either side of my face.  Josh is staring down at me dumbfounded.  “Stormy?”

I groan in response and unlock my body from his, my hands loosening their hold as I try to control my legs enough to relax from where they trap his hips to me.  My legs fall open, finally freeing him, although he stays right where he is, curled over me as I try to regain my ability to think straight.

“What the fuck was that?”

At a total loss for words Josh shakes his head in response to my whispered question. He brushes his bruised knuckles across my damp cheeks and says softly, “I thought I had hurt you.”

I shake my head quickly to dispel him of that notion.  “No.  Not at all.  It felt amazing actually.”  I stare up into his green eyes with their inner mahogany ringlet and smile slowly.  “You were amazing.” 

He exhales a slow breath and dips his head down until his forehead rests on mine.  “You scared the shit out of me.  You looked like you were unconscious.”

I wrinkle my nose at him and ask, “Is that even possible?”  I take in the way his shoulders move in a shrug while he rubs the side of his nose against mine, his forehead creased with worry belying his playful actions.  “It felt like I splintered into a million tiny pieces and then they all came back together to form me.”

Josh grins and says, “You’re still high.”  He’s referring to the blunt we smoked when we got off the main highway.  I can’t help but giggle at his assessment. 

“That’s entirely possible.”

Josh laughs and sits up, pulling me with him.  He slides off the car first, tucking himself back into his shorts and zipping up.  His hands reach for me automatically and I go into his arms easily.  He holds me close, my legs tucked under me on the edge of the hood while he stands with his knees resting on the bumper.  His lips are soft as he peppers my cheeks with kisses.  “I love you, Stormy.”

I lean back to look at him and smile widely.  “I love you too, Josh.”  My breath hitches on the L word just like always and then my eyes dart past his shoulder to the rusted sign beside where the pumps would have been.  I don’t bother quieting the laughter that bubbles out of me and Josh glances behind him to look at why I’m laughing. 

The Full-Service sign is partially scraped and peeling but it’s still legible and Josh just shakes his head, grinning in comprehension.  “Come on.  Let’s get you dressed and find a damn phone so we can get some help out here in BFE.”

I watch him retrieve my clothes and can’t help but admire the view, the muscles in his back and arms causing a resounding quiver deep inside me.

I scoot my ass across the hood of the car as he comes back to me, holding my panties out so I can step into them.  I’m secretly happy his car broke down. 

But, I’ll deny it to my dying day.


	5. Here's Looking At You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aug 2016 - Being away from Stormy is hard in more ways than one for Josh.

**Stormy's POV**

My heart is beating fast as I stop at the security gate to punch in my code.  My fingers tap impatiently as I mutter, “Hurry, hurry, hurry.”  I bite my lip and nose my car forward, impatient to get through to the driveway.  Finally I’m able to drive through and park and I quickly hop out and race to the front door, keys jingling as I shove them in the lock.  I swing the door wide and slam it behind me, tossing my keys to the table and nudging Driver aside as he bounces after me. 

“I’ll let you out, just give me a second, baby!”  I rush into the bedroom and fling myself across the bed, grabbing the laptop.  I flip it open and power it on, shaking my fists in frustration.  Finally it boots and I slide my finger across the touchpad to drag the little camera on the monitor to the center and double click it.  The screen pops up and I tap on the connect button.  Josh’s face fills the screen immediately and I squeal. 

“Look at you, sexy mother fucker.”

His laughter fills the bedroom and he responds with, “You’re one to talk.  Look at you.  What did you do to your hair?”

I turn my head side to side, showing off the darker streaks that make my pale hair stand out.  “You like?”

Josh purses his lips to blow out a slow whistle, “Like it?  I love it.  I love you.”  His eyes turn serious and he admits, “I miss you so god damn much.”

I blow him a kiss into the camera and then I hop off the bed, pulling the laptop towards me.  “I miss you too.  And so does our little boy.”  I aim the webcam down at Driver whose tongue is lolling off to the side.  “Someone needs to go potty before we get comfortable.”  I open the backdoor and Driver bolts out.

Wednesdays at 5 pm have become our date night.  Josh has been gone for nearly 2 months filming a movie in Chile.  He has almost a whole month left down south before he can come home to me.  Skype has pretty much become our savior.  Josh tells me about his day as I lean against the door, waiting for Driver to return.  The dog finally comes in and I slide the door shut, locking it with my thumb as I cradle the laptop in the crook of my other arm. 

“Nice tits.”

I laugh and glance down at Josh and catch a peek of myself in the corner of the monitor where my boobs are right in the camera. 

“Why, thank you, kind sir.” I pull the laptop further away as I walk towards the bedroom.  “But wouldn’t you rather see them in all their glory?”

Josh groans and says, “Hell yes.  Wait.”  He scoots forward in his desk chair.  “Are we?”  I grin and nod, setting the laptop on the comforter as I stand beside the bed and pull my shirt off over my head. 

“We are.”  I assure him as I unsnap my jeans and glance over at Josh who is watching me closely, his lips parted and his breathing a little heavier than normal.  “Josh?”  His eyes raise up to look at mine and away from my hands near my zipper.  “Are you going to strip down?”

He practically jumps up and starts taking clothes off.  I’m shimmying out of my jeans as he hops around his hotel room on one foot, struggling with his own pants.  I laugh as I watch him fall sideways on the bed as he kicks his legs.  Finally his pants are off and he’s standing in front of the camera in just his boxers with an impressive erection.

I unclasp my bra and let the straps fall down my arms to catch on my elbows.  Josh is leaning down, hands on either side of the desk where his laptop sits, as he watches my impromptu strip show.  I turn my back to him and glance over my shoulder where his eyes capture mine.  I let my bra fall off and I toss it behind me on the bed, past where the laptop rests.  Josh’s eyes follow it as it flies over and then his stare returns to me.  I slowly bend at the waist and inch my panties down a little at a time until they fall freely to my ankles.  Still bent over I shift my legs open and with one hand on the floor in front of me to steady myself I press my hand between my legs, trailing past my labia in a tickling caress to my entrance.  I swirl my fingers around and slowly push one in, moaning Josh’s name as I pull it back out.

I straighten and turn around, fully nude now as I get a close up view of Josh’s abs.  He’s walking to his bed and when he lays down on it and turns the monitor sideways I see he’s taken off his boxers, his cock full and ready, begging for attention. 

I climb onto the bed and reposition the laptop so it’s at a similar angle.  Licking my lips I confess, “I wish I were there.”

Josh raises his eyebrows at me and wraps one hand around his shaft.  “What would you do if you were?”

“What wouldn’t I do?”  I fire back quickly and run a hand down the center of my body, letting my legs fall open naturally.  “First I would kiss your ankles.  Right in that spot that tickles above your heel.”  Josh grins and slowly strokes himself, not really putting a lot of effort into it.  “I would run my hands up your calves, kissing along your shins until I got to your knees.”  I run my hands down my thighs and back up to the creases where my legs meet my hips.  “I’d run my teeth along the inner curve of your leg.”  His cock jumps and I make out a faint moan.  “Turn up your mic, I want to hear every little noise.”

Josh reaches over and adjusts the volume then settles back in.  “Better?”

I nod as he gets more comfortable.  “Perfect.”  His hand goes back to his shaft and I bite my lower lip, trailing my hands across my abdomen.  “Then I’d kiss up your thigh to your dick.”  I inhales deeply and swear I can almost taste him. 

Josh’s eyes are narrowed on me, waiting to hear more detail when I say instead, “Fuck, Josh.  Can we just get on with it?”

He laughs, his head falling back against the wall behind the headboard, landing with a soft thud.  “Well would you like to hear what I’d do to you?”

I’m panting as he describes in minute detail every little spot on my body he would kiss.  “Right behind your ear in that spot that makes your hands flex on me.”  I can feel his whisper in  my veins and my hands dip between my thighs.  Josh makes a noise in his throat and I look over at him.  His hand is moving up and down his shaft, his thumb making wide sweeping gestures across the head, spreading the little bit of fluid leaking from the weeping tip.  “Between your breasts where it makes you laugh and push my head away.”  I grin as my fingers part my sex.  “Beside your belly button.” I groan out loud at the thought and he breathes out a, “Yeah, exactly.  That’s the exact noise you make every time.”  I make that noise every time because I know his next stop is just inches away from my pussy and I’m always impatient to get him right where I crave him most.

“Where else, Josh?  Where would you kiss me next?”  I sink my middle finger into my throbbing center and move my hips in time to his hand as he pumps himself into his fist. 

“I’d swirl my tongue around your clit and suck it into my mouth.”  I pinch my little bundle of nerves with my free hand and flick it gently with a fingernail, imaging his teeth scraping across it instead.  “I’d put my fingers inside you; fill you up and fuck you so hard.”  My hips buck up and I add a second finger to the first.  Josh has tilted his head back and he’s repeating my name over and over, his eyes slanted towards the laptop to watch me just as mine are on him.  I move my hand up and over my breast, plucking at the sensitive tip as Josh’s movements grow more sporadic. 

My back bows and my eyes roll back, his name a hoarse shout as I come, my fingers relentless in their pursuit, dragging my orgasm out until Josh says my name pleadingly.  I turn my face to the screen, move my fingers from my pussy to my mouth and plunge them in between my lips, sucking off my juices.  Josh’s fist works faster and his cheeks are flushed as he watches me, his eyes turning a startling shade of green and then he comes, a thick liquid stream shooting onto his stomach and across his defined abs. 

His breathing is labored as he groans out in time with his release, voice hitching as he says my name with each spurt, his eyes locked on mine.

After my heart settles I’m able to say, “One more month?”

Josh shakes his head and closes his eyes, his hand still loosely wrapped around his cock.  “I don’t think I can wait a month.”

I laugh and roll to my side, brushing my hand down the length of my torso and resting my palm against my exposed hip.  “One more month and then I’m going to do things to you you’ve only dreamed of.”

Josh grabs his white tee from the side of the bed and wipes the lines of cum off of his stomach.  “Don’t make promises, Stormy.  I’ve had a lot of dreams lately.”

I nod quickly, “Me too.  And I can’t wait until I can feel you inside me.”

Josh’s eyes narrow on me, “Change the subject now or I’m going to hop on the first plane home and fuck this shooting schedule all up.”

I grin and pull the laptop closer to me so it’s angled towards my face instead of my whole naked body and Josh does the same on his end. 

It doesn’t take long until we’re both listening to the other talk about what’s been going on in the two days since we’ve last talked and laughing with each other. 

Calls and texts are fine, but sometimes I just needed to be able to see his face.  He animatedly tells me about his new role as director.  It’s while he’s explaining to me lens sizes and shit that I don’t understand or particularly care about that it occurs to me it doesn’t matter what he’s saying so much as that he’s the one saying it.  During his story about his hiking trip into the Andes I’m lulled to sleep and as I’m floating away on the gentle waves of his voice I decide Skype is possibly the best invention ever.


	6. Down South

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sept 2016 - Josh only has his loneliness to blame.

**Josh's POV  
**

I stare down at the tumbler of scotch on the bar in front of me.  My hand shifts the glass to the left, sliding the sweat ring left behind on the slab of glossy polished wood with it, creating a trail of condensation.  This is only a testament to how hot it is this far south even though I’m indoors and the air conditioning is cranked up high.  I’ve been in Argentina for months and I have a little less than a week left.

I’ve surpassed homesickness.  I miss a lot of things.

Mostly I miss her.  Stormy.

My body aches with a deep seeded need to sink into her warmth and get lost for hours.  We’ve been extreme-skyping lately but that doesn’t seem to be enough.  Even after I’m spent and my eyes are full of her touching herself and my ears can still hear her call my name to an otherwise empty room, there’s an emptiness inside me.

I am sated, but far from it.

I’m glad my time down here is almost over because I’m not sure how much longer I can last with just my hands as my personal companion. 

I blink lazily as a fresh glass of light amber liquid replaces my watered down one.  I look up at the bartender, a grizzled older man with gray shooting through his thick black beard and skin the color and texture of beef jerky.  He grins, showing his poor dental decisions off as he nods down the bar at a woman. 

Her red hair shimmers under the lights of the dimly lit bar, strands of gold interspersed with brown dance in the light breeze of the fans rotating overhead.  Her amused chocolate brown eyes meet mine across the distance of our respective seats and she raises her own glass of what appears to be scotch in a silent salute. 

I grasp mine and raise it in cheers before tossing back a well measured sip.  My throat warms and my insides go a little more numb with each taste of the hard liquor. 

I’m concentrating so hard on not tipping over off of my barstool, my feet hooked into the rungs to keep me upright, that I don’t notice when the redhead slides onto the seat next to mine.  She leans an elbow on the bar and turns her body towards mine.  Her legs cross and the slit in the previously decent skirt rides up to flash the lace top of her thigh highs.  Her pump swings casually in my direction as she studies me.  I can’t help but stare at the small triangle of bare skin high on her leg left exposed by the material that has parted.  My fingers itch to touch it and I tap them against the edge of the bar instead, reminding myself to keep my hands to myself. 

Finally she speaks and I close my eyes and bite back a moan because her voice matches the rest of her.  It’s deep and sultry and smooth and has a teasing lilt towards the end when she asks, “Come here often?”

I suck in a deep breath and let it out so slowly it seems to go on forever.  I weigh my options.  I could ignore her.  Wait for her to go away.  That would be incredibly rude, though, and my mom raised me better than that.  What was the harm in a little conversation, anyways?

“For the last few months.  Do you?”  She looks at me curiously and I reiterate, “Come here often?”  I almost don’t recognize my own voice because it usually doesn’t drop to that low of an octave unless I’m inside Stormy and asking her if she likes how my cock feels inside her pussy.

The woman beside me shifts her crossed leg higher and replies, “No.  It’s my first time here.”  She looks around the establishment and wrinkles her nose in what is probably distaste.  It’s not a dive bar but it’s far from trendy and her outfit screams polish and shine.  She sips her drink leaving behind a light pink smudge from her lips and then my eyes stare straight at her mouth as her tongue peeks out from between her lips to lick up the liquid droplets that are left behind.  She brings me out of my hypnotic stare when she adds on, “I’m glad I came.”

I nod and my gaze lifts to catch hers.  The striations of honey around the irises in her dense brown eyes only enhance the seductive stare she returns to me.  Her hair is down around her shoulders and before I can stop myself my fingers reach out to touch the silky ends.  I flick the auburn strands and then raise my fingers, letting her hair fall through between the open spaces like a waterfall.  I imagine how amazing those silken strands would feel against my abdomen as her pretty pink lips wrap around the head of my cock and my mouth opens on a harsh breath that does nothing to disguise the moan that strains out of my throat.

Her tongue peeks out again, not in nervousness but in anticipation, and she places a hand on my forearm, her fingers stroking the outline of my Libra tattoo.  She touches each star delicately before she walks her fingers down to my wrist and then down to my fingers.  “Come with me.”

My head is swimming and I can’t concentrate, her grip on my hand is steady and sure and an electric current starts in the center of my palm and shoots straight for my dick.  I’m instantly hard and I let her pull me off my stool and toward the door near the back of the bar. 

She leads me down a darkly painted hallway, my eyes are glued to her ass and the way she sways just like a metronome, her cheeks bouncing in time to my heartbeat.  She pushes open doors one by one until she seems satisfied and leads me into a room furnished with a small loveseat and a desk.  The owner’s or manager’s office maybe.  It doesn’t matter because she’s leading me to the cherry leather sofa along the wall and pushing me down by my shoulders.  I sit back, my hand falling from hers to rest on my knee. 

She strips off her jacket, revealing a sheer top beneath.  Her black bra displays succulent cleavage that I can’t wait to explore.  She unbuttons the side of her skirt and pulls the zipper down agonizingly slow, tooth by tooth until I want to rip it off her.  She slides it down her hips and releases the material to let it fall from her thighs to the ground, stepping one heel out of it at a time. 

There’s a niggling thought scratching at the back of my brain but I can’t remember if I was going to protest what we’re about to do because she’s standing before me bare to the world and I reach out around her to claim pale white globes of flesh in each hand.  I pull her close roughly and bury my face in the notch of her thighs, my nose seeking out the intoxicating smell of an aroused woman.  I groan when I encounter the aroma and my tongue strokes against her folds, my lips parted to suck her lips in between mine.  Her hands fall to my sweat dampened hair and she gently strokes through the locks before reaching the back of my head where she forcefully grabs two handfuls and shifts her legs a little further apart. A rough sound escapes her parted lips as she pants while using her grip on my hair to guide my face against her pussy, riding my mouth and demanding more.  “Fuck me with your tongue.”  I flatten my tongue against her core and then spear it inside of her as she tilts her hips forward. 

She whimpers and raises one leg, her stiletto clad foot coming to rest outside of my spread thigh.  Her hands cradle the back of my head, one falling to the skin on my neck as she pumps herself on my tongue.  My hands rhythmically massage her ass, letting her take the lead as she grinds against my face.  Her whimpers escalate into noises that gurgle up from her throat until I feel the first contraction as she squeezes my tongue tight with her internal muscles and then she’s coming.  I close my mouth against her opening, puckering my lips against her slit and make a vibrating noise with my mouth, my hands tightening to keep her upright against my face until she’s pushing my head away instead of holding it tightly to her.

I pull back, the back of my hand swiping across my mouth, spreading her juices to my cheek.  Her skin is flushed pink and she doesn’t bother removing her top, instead dropping to her knees between my spread legs.  She gets to work on my fly; popping open the button then carefully sliding the zipper down over my hard dick.  My boxers reveal a growing slick spot where my precum has leaked from the tip and she leans her head down and takes a lick of the soaked material, her tongue solid and warm against the head of my cock.  My hips strain upward and she smiles up at me. 

Her cheeks are rosy and her skin is damp with perspiration.  I watch with detached curiosity as she pulls the waistband of my boxers down, releasing my erection, and then her lips part and she captures the wet head with her lips, puckering and then sucking me in to the back of her throat with one smooth move.  The suction coupled with the head of my dick bumping into the wall of her throat is almost too much and I watch as her cheeks hollow out and the mewling noises she pushes forth caress the shaft of my engulfed penis.  My hand plays through the red hair that surrounds her and something pushes through the drunken state of my brain.  I shouldn’t look down while having my dick sucked and see red hair.  It should be blonde.  Always blonde.  Then she sucks me in deep again and I forget what I was thinking, my eyes rolling back in my head as her tongue sweeps around and around, swirling up and around my shaft, leaving every inch wet with saliva.

It doesn’t take long before I can feel myself start to lose control.  I want to be inside her warm body when I come.  It’s been so long since I was inside anyone when I released, I’m nearly shaking with my intensity to do so.  I use my grip in her hair to gently tug her off of me, her mouth releasing my cock with a loud pop. 

I’m dragging her up to my lap when she whispers, “Condom.”

I shoot her a panicked look.  I can’t remember the last time I carried protection with me.  I have a quick memory of pale skin and nimble fingers taking a foil packet from my outstretched hand and watching the silver package fly across the bedroom while a laughing voice said, “It’s time.  I want to feel all of you.” 

Instead of hearing those words echo up at me all I hear is, “I’ve got one.”  I watch her dig around in a tiny purse and she smiles, her tongue running across the front of her teeth as she holds up a square and rips it open along the sealed edge.  Her hands drop to my still waiting cock and she rolls it on in one practiced move.  I open my mouth to ask her where she learned that and if I should be worried but her lips cover mine and then she’s poised over me and sliding down oh so slowly.  My hands fall to her hips as my tongue duels with hers, our teeth scraping against the others and our lips mashing together sloppily. 

Her wet heat surrounds my dick as she slides herself up and down, her ass slapping against my thighs as she shoves herself down roughly, taking all of me inside of her.  My hands move from her hips to her ass, holding on tight as she bounces relentlessly.  Her tongue strokes mine and she whispers my name inside my mouth but I’m too far gone to care.  Between the alcohol and the heady sensation of her pulsing around me, not quite coming but getting closer, I’m caught up in a state of surreal bliss.

I’m glad I’m wearing a condom because it dulls the sensation just enough that I can hold back my own orgasm as I scoot my hips lower so her clit rubs against the hair of my happy trail every time she drags herself back up.  Her body starts to shake and her hands are tugging roughly at my hair, alternately pulling me away from her so she can catch her breath and then just as roughly directing my mouth back to hers as she tries to consume me.  She jerks erratically, her hips grinding and grinding in circles, making me dizzy as she switches direction suddenly, swiveling counter clockwise.  My fingers span the crevice of her ass, the tip of my pinky is drenched in her juices and I can feel her right there.  I can see where my body disappears into her and I move the rest of my hand lower, positioning myself.  I straighten my slightly crooked pinky and on a downward thrust I align it just right along the underside of my dick and she takes both my finger and my hard cock inside her body. 

She stills over me, whimpering and groaning, her breath harsh against my parted lips as she adjusts to the addition of my digit.  I stare into her sleepy brown eyes and I can see where her skin is raised with goose bumps across her chest and arms.  Then she swivels her hips slowly and raises up, taking a deep breath, and then swiftly slamming herself back down, holding me deep inside of her.  I bend my pinky, trapped between my hard shaft and her inner walls and suddenly she’s arching herself backwards, screaming my name, coming against me, soaking me and my lap. The force of her walls massaging me triggers my own orgasm and with swift reflexes she reaches down between us as rises off of me, my pinky popping out of her, and then she rolls the condom off in one seamless move.  She holds the base of my cock and lowers herself back down on me just in time for my release. 

The wet hug of her pussy contracting around my shaft, milking my very essence out of me is the most subliminal feeling I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.  My arm has banded around her, hugging her close to me as our bodies shake, feeding off one another.  Her forehead is against my shoulder and before she can raise her head I tangle my hand in her hair and tug hard, releasing the wig from the skull cap and then I divest her of that as well, her blonde hair held in place by a million pins. My hand slowly starts to release them one at a time, uncaring of where they fall to, some landing on the couch with us and some getting flung to the floor.  I can’t help but smile when I’m finally able to run my hand all the way through her hair from the root to the tips, her hair a little shorter than when I left her at home.  It has chunks of a dark brown running through it, the contrast pleasing to the eye.  I gather up a handful and hold it close to my nose, inhaling her scent.  It surrounds me and invades my brain and I turn my face until my lips find her ear.  “I missed you so fucking much.”

I can tell she’s crying because her body sways and her eyelashes are damp as they flutter against my neck.  Her lips are pressed to my skin beneath my jaw when she says, “Don’t ever leave me again.”

I bring my other arm around her to hold her as close as I can possibly get her, my cock still nestled safely inside her when I agree, “Never again.” 

She sniffles against me and sighs, “I love you.”

My whole world comes to an absolute stand still and my arms fall open as I try to shift my head away from her.  She raises her face and stares back at me with those damn brown eyes, her contacts shifting just slightly when she blinks.  My mouth is working but nothing comes out because I don’t know what to say.  I have said those three words to her over and over again when she is sleeping.  I’ve never said them as she stares at me, wide awake and waiting.  My lips try to form the words but I shake my head instead.  She bites her lip, uncertainty forcing her to begin the process of shifting away from me. 

In a moment of panic that I’m about to lose her I say, “I love you, Stormy.”  I say it much more aggressively than I intend and that causes her to jerk away from me in surprise.  I wince as I look into those eyes that aren’t hers and I wish I could say this and watch her blue eyes widen in acknowledgement but I’ll have to settle for brown no matter how unnatural it looks on her.  “I’ve loved you forever.”  I tangle a hand in the hair at the back of her head and force her to meet my gaze unwaveringly.  “Forever.”

She can see the truth in my eyes and she melts against me. 

We’re in the back office of a bar in Argentina where I’m directing my first movie.  We’ve just had sex for the first time in months, mutual masturbation in a skype room not counting, and we’ve just fulfilled her fantasy of role playing.  It must be a day for firsts. 

I know this to be true because Stormy looks away from me and gently extracts the contacts from her eyes, blinking tears back as she flicks them from her fingertips.  When she looks back up at me her eyes are that clear blue that stares right through to my soul.  And when she opens her mouth her voice isn’t perfectly regulated to portray whatever character she was playing.  In her own voice she says so distinctively and with such power, “I have loved you, Josh, from the moment I saw you at that premier.  Seeing you again, being near you again, felt like coming home.  Like I truly belonged somewhere.”  She kisses me, our eyes open the entire time and then she pulls back and says, “You’re my home.  And wherever you are,” she looks around the room and then shakes her head as she grins, “it’s exactly where I want to be.”

My chest hitches with emotion and I pull her back down for another kiss, already hardening inside of her. 

She giggles as she shifts on top of me and says, “You want another round with Natasha?”

I screw up my face as I push my hips up into hers.  “Was that her name?”

She slaps my chest playfully as she rises and sinks, working me into a frenzy, “You didn’t even get her name.  You hussy.”

I catch her hand with mine and lower it so our combined fists rest against the base of my shaft as it glides in and out of her sweet heat.  “I don’t want Natasha.  I don’t want anyone, ever, except you.”  Her face is suddenly serious as she processes what I’m telling her.  I’m not going to scare her with a marriage proposal, and I don’t know if I ever will since I know it’s not important to Stormy, but I do want her to know that she’s it for me.  I’m done looking.  Hell, I quit looking the moment I spotted her at that Santana concert.  So I say, “You’re it, Storm.  For the rest of my life, you’re all I’m ever going to want. You’re everything I’ll ever need.” 

The tears are building up in her eyes as she takes it all in and then she leans her head against mine and says, “Oh, Josh.”  She’s the writer but for some reason when it comes to us she’s never been able to verbally express how she feels.  I watch her struggle with it now, even as her hips shift back and forth slowly, torturing me as she catches and releases with me inside her.  I start to shake my head to tell her she doesn’t have to say anything when she blurts out, “I stopped looking a long time ago because I knew you were it.  You’ve always been it.”  This is kind of a shock to me because Stormy is such a free spirit and has never once brought up commitment and then she says, “There was never a time you weren’t it.”  She rocks back and forth, speeding up the tempo to suit our needs and as I start to feel her tremble from the inside out she admits, “We were made for each other.”  And then she comes, whispering my name as she looks into me and into my soul.

It’s too much for me and I can’t help but follow down her path, coming as I whisper her name over and over, staring deeply into her eyes.

Staring into my future.


	7. Picking Up a Spare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> March 2017 - Bowling @ Pinz - Stormy has beginner’s luck. And Josh just gets plain old lucky.

**Josh**

I pause with the spoonful of cereal halfway to my mouth.  I’m sitting at the butcher-block island in our kitchen, staring in shock at the wonderful yet baffling creature sitting Indian-style on top of the bar at the other end.  She’s flipping through some fashion magazine, not paying attention to my reaction to what she just said.

After righting myself I calmly put my spoon of Fruity Pebbles back in the bowl.  I take a moment to collect my thoughts.  “Like, how is that even possible?”

Stormy looks up at me, eyebrows lowered in thought.  Then she shrugs and goes back to her magazine.  “I don’t know.”  She flips another page and suddenly looks over at me, smiling.  “I’m not opposed to it, Josh.” 

I lean my elbows on the counter top, one on either side of my breakfast bowl.  “I don’t even know why it surprises me.”  Stormy turns down a corner of the page she’s on and puts her mag aside. 

“You asked.  I answered.”  She unfolds her legs from underneath her and scoots her butt to the edge of the island, her legs swinging back and forth.  “I think it would be fun if you taught me, though.”

I’m trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my 30 year old girlfriend has never been bowling before.  We’ve gone rock climbing in the canyons out back.  We’ve gone on numerous camping trips in the mountains for days on end, really roughing it.  We had even travelled up to British Colombia for our 2 year anniversary to go zip lining.  All of these adventures together and she had never been bowling.

I get off the barstool and take my bowl to the sink, rinsing it out and filing it away in the dishwasher along with my spoon.  I scoot around the island until I’m standing in front of her.  “Just out of curiosity, how have you lived this long without ever going bowling?”  Her legs open automatically, knees parting to allow me room to stand.  I press my hips between hers and she lifts her incredibly long legs to wrap around my waist, locking her ankles at the small of my back and resting her heels against my ass.  My palms are spanning her waist with my thumbs gently pressing against her hipbones.  I enjoy the way she clasps her hands together behind my neck and trusts me with her weight as she leans back, the ends of her blonde hair brushing the wooden surface of the counter.  

She’s flashes me an endearing smile before she leans up and places a kiss at the corner of my mouth.  “I don’t know.”  She kisses the other corner.  “I like doing stuff outdoors more, I guess.”  She rubs her cheek against the stubble along my jaw and makes a sound deep in the back of her throat.  I purposely didn’t shave today just for her.  A week from today I’ll have to leave town to head up to Vancouver to start filming an indie flick and I’ll have to shave every day.  Stormy once told me she didn’t have a preference when it came to my facial hair.  I found out soon afterwards that she liked it either way for differing reasons. 

If I was clean shaven she would hug me and press her nose and lips to my neck, right under my jaw near my Adam’s apple.  She would nibble the soft skin there and get herself worked up.  If I didn’t shave she would rub her cheek against my jaw and run her fingertips across my chin ever so gently.  Either way she was turned on.  Last night we’d been lying in bed and she’d straddled me and leaned her face down close to mine, her fingers playing along the stubble against my cheek.  “I think you should grow it out before you head up north next week.”

I had smiled up at her and ran my hands down her back to her ass, pulling her closer against me.  “Oh yeah?  Why’s that?”

She had grinned and leaned down, biting my chin, scraping her teeth across the dimple in the center.  “Because it makes me want to fuck.”

I had laughed and asked, “So what is it we do when I’ve just shaved?”

She had squirmed her lower body against mine and placed a quick kiss against my mouth, leaving me wanting more.  “That’s when we make love.”  She leans down and kisses me longer, sliding her tongue against my lip before entering my mouth to stroke hers against mine.  It was a slow, sensual kiss.  I was hard immediately.  Afterwards she showed me the difference between fucking and making love.

This morning we spring apart from each other because Driver bounds into the kitchen and jumps, putting his paws on the top of the counter while trying to wedge himself between us.  Stormy immediately lets go of me to rub his ears and tell him he’s such a pretty puppy.  Driver looks up at her with total adoration and I know he’s fallen in love with her just as hard as I have.  I press one more kiss to her lips and step back, her legs falling to the side.  I wrap an arm around her waist and lift her off the counter before lowering her feet to the cool tile of the floor. 

“I’m free for the day.  Did you want to check out Pinz?”

She leans into me, one hand on Driver’s head and the other placed against my cheek.  “I’d love to.”  I can tell she means it but I’m pretty sure she’s only agreeing because she can see my excitement. She presses her lips to mine and then scoots back when Driver starts whining.  She looks down at him, smiling.  “But first I’m going to go play ball with my big boy.”  She moves out of the kitchen, making kissy noises all the way down the hall while our dog pads along beside her, his tongue lolling halfway out of his mouth in anticipation of getting her all to himself for an hour.

I may not have ever been bowling with Stormy but I still frequented the place with Chris, Avan and James.  We play on a rec league and I have realized this morning that when Stormy does come with me she usually just wanders off to the arcade with my wallet.  I always thought it was because she liked trading in the tickets for “little trophies” as she called them.  Now I’m wondering if she’s just going along with this to humor me.

I peek out the windows into the back yard and run a hand through my hair.  It’s gotten longer and the ends curl against my forehead and neck.  I’ve been meaning to get it cut but without any awards shows to go to and being in between films I’ve grown lazy.  I also really like the way Stormy twirls the ends around her fingers and gives little tugs while I’m inside of her.  I have come to realize that most of what I do is more about keeping her happy than it is about me.  I know one day I’ll marry her and hopefully we’ll have a few kids, but neither of us seems to be in any rush and I know she’s not going anywhere.  She’s made it very clear to me over the years that I belong to her. 

Stormy isn’t the jealous type or even the possessive type.  On the occasion that I am approached by fans she readily steps back and has even offered to take pictures for them.  The one time a fan had actually grabbed my ass Stormy had laughed, hands covering her mouth, and then hugged the exuberant girl who couldn’t have been more than 14. Then they had high fived and I had been left standing there blushing.  Even when we’ve run into ex-girlfriends of mine she is trusting.  Her eyes are watchful but far from accusing.  But every once in a while she’ll turn to me in the middle of the night and say, “You’re mine, you know?”

And I always reply, “I know.”

And she always replies, “Good.”  And then the tension leaves her body and she curls close.  I know what she went through with Adam and I’m not surprised she has little insecurities here and there.  They make her human and I love her for them.

I leave her and Driver alone for the time being.  I know if I go out there they’ll just ignore me anyways.  Driver will only return the ball to her even if she tosses it to me to throw.  I remember back when he adored me and looked at me the way he looks at her.  I also have my suspicions, however, that she feeds him bacon when I’m not looking.

I get off the phone with my agent just as she comes sprinting into the bedroom and takes a flying leap, landing with a thud in the middle of the bed.  Driver is close behind her and he jumps up on the bed with her, snuffling her face while she giggles and wrestles with him.  Eventually they settle down and they’re curled into each other, her face pressed against the top of the pits head as she strokes along his side.  Driver knows he’s not supposed to be on the bed but this has become a routine of theirs and who am I to deny him cuddle time with one of the most gorgeous women on the planet. 

I was reading through scripts when Stormy finally rolled off the bed and changed from a pair of my boxers and a Lakers tee to a pair of jeans with rips at the knees and a tight SBNN shirt.  She piles her hair on top of her head and swipes on some Chapstick.  She was ready in ten minutes and looked amazing.  I was already wearing jeans and a black Dead Kennedy’s shirt.  “Going somewhere?” 

She pulls on socks and a pair of new Chucks.  Driver had finally chewed the leather shell off her old ones, forcing her to replace them.  She had tried her best to put them back together with duct tape and the magic of wishing but in the end it had been hopeless.  She looked up at me from her bent over position and smiled, “Yeah.  We’re going bowling.”  She got up from the edge of the bed and plopped down in my lap where I sat at my desk.  She crossed her legs and wrapped her arms around me.  “You’re going to teach me how to throw a strike.”

“Bowl.”  I interrupted her.  At her amused look I smiled sheepishly.  “Sorry.  But it’s bowl a strike, not throw.”

She kisses me and gets up.  “Then let’s go so you can show me how to bowl a strike, oh wise one,” she says putting extra emphasis on the word bowl.  

I laugh and reach for her but she’s already dancing away.  I take one last look back into the bedroom at Driver sleeping in the middle of the bed and decide to leave him there.  There was no use in telling him to get down when he’d probably just get back up when we left anyways.

It was a pretty straight shot down Mulholland to Laurel Canyon with a quick left onto the Boulevard. In moderate traffic we made it to Pinz in less than 20 minutes.  It was a quarter after 10 am on a Wednesday.  One lane was currently occupied and I said my silent thanks as I realized it was mid-March and kids were in school.  I set my bowling bag down on the counter and the woman working behind it looked up from a notebook she was doodling in.  “Yeah?”

I hear Stormy snicker behind me; her hands were wrapped around my waist as she pressed her front to my back.  Her cheek rested between my shoulder blades.  It always amused her when people didn’t jump up to wait on me.  I lean an elbow on the counter and flash my movie star smile.  The only change in her demeanor is the lift of an eyebrow.  Instead I clear my throat, “Can we get a lane?”

The girl punches some keys on the register and purses her lips to blow a huge pink bubble, “Sure, how many games?”

“We’ll take an hour for now.”  The girl raises her head and takes my credit card.  Stormy steps out from behind me to request a pair of shoes and the woman behind the counter freezes in place.  She’s holding out my card to give it back but she doesn’t loosen her hold on it as I reach out to take it.  Her eyes are locked on Stormy’s and my girlfriend shoots me a worried look.  I speak up before she can.  “Are you okay, miss?”

When I get no answer I snap my fingers in front of her face.  She swings her head in my direction and waves my card.  Then she opens her mouth, closes it quickly, and then waves the card at Stormy.  “You’re Stormy Seasons.” 

Stormy glances over at me somewhat horrified.  There are only two reasons she would be recognized out in public and one is much less flattering than the other.  So when the girl snaps her gum and smiles widely before proclaiming, “I love your books!” we both exhale noisily.  Stormy smiles and extracts my card from her hand. 

“Cool.  I’m glad you liked them.”  She hands the card back to me and leans an elbow on the counter.  “Can I get a size 7, please?”  The woman behind the counter nods and rushes to get her the most pristine pair of shoes she can find.  Stormy wrinkles her nose at them but accepts them graciously all the same.  She turns to me and whispers, “Can’t I just wear my Chucks?”

I’m about to tell her no when the woman, Brenda her nametag reads, replies with a, “Oh sure.  Go on ahead.”

Stormy looks from my disapproving frown to the woman and hugs the shoes to her chest.  “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”  She smiles and lets me lead her over to lucky lane 7.  She drops into the hard purple seat situated beside our lane and kicks off her Converse, fixes her socks and then puts on the blue and yellow bowling shoes.  I’ve already changed into my bowling shoes and I’m pulling my all black Cobra special edition bowling ball from my bag.  Storm flexes her feet inside her shoes and smiles up at me.  “These aren’t so bad.”

I give a half laugh and lean forward to kiss her.  “You didn’t want to get her in trouble by keeping your shoes on.”

She plays her fingers through my too long hair and smiles against my lips, “I wouldn’t want her to lose her job over something so trivial.”

I kiss her again, lingering a little longer this time.  “I love you.”

Stormy looks into my eyes and her mouth softens against mine, she puffs out a breath that sounds a lot like a moan and I close my eyes and pull back.  She seems to realize where we are and she shakes her head, her body shivering in response.  “I love you, too.”

I smile over at her whispered words.  I can tell she means it every time she says it by the way her words catch.  I put her name in the computer in front of me and she grins up at the board at her initials next to mine.  “So, who goes first?”  She looks so ready to begin I give a little laugh. 

“First we need to find you a ball.”

“Can’t I just use yours?”

I look up at her, panic stricken.  Clearly she’s joking.  Her look of innocent confusion has me shaking my head.  “No, babe.  My ball is 12 lbs.  The finger holes were drilled especially for me.  It’s…”  I try to find a way to put this delicately and then just shake my head, “Just, no.”

She looks at me strangely and then looks around the room, taking no offense to me denying her something as some women might.  “So I just go over there and pick one?”

I stand up with her and show her over to the rack of neon colored bowling balls.  “First you try them on your fingers to see if they fit comfortably.”  She slides her middle and ring finger into two holes and her thumb into the other.  “Then you pick it up to make sure it’s not too heavy, but you also don’t want it to be too light.”  She picks it up and her arm drops a few inches with its weight. 

“It’s perfect.”

I can’t help but smile, teeth flashing.  I can tell it’s probably a pound or two too heavy for her and her thumb hole is the size of the Grand Canyon but either her impatience to get the game started or her acceptance of the ball not being perfect keeps her from dejecting it and looking any further.  I just nod and say, “Well, then, I guess that’s your ball.”

She holds it up in front of her, cradling it like a pink-marbled baby.  “It’s so pretty too.”

I lead her back to our lane and take my turn first to show her how to stand properly.  She watches from behind me and as I bend over to roll the ball down the aisle she shoots me a catcall. Just as I let the ball go I turn towards her and laugh, “What was that for?”

She looks pleased with herself.  “I’m going to love this game.  Do you know how incredible your ass looks when you do that?  We should come here every day.”

I kiss her as I pass her and wait for the pins to reset.  I offer her a hand for the step up and she shoots me a wink.  “Can I try once on my own?”

I just shrug and take a seat on the hard plastic chair behind the ball return.  It isn’t until she holds the ball up in front of her face and narrows her eyes down the lane that I realize what she’s about to do.  I prop my chin on my fist and watch her reenact the scene from Detention.  She brings the ball back and then takes two steps and lets it fly.  She turns towards me, her arms high in the air, devil horns displayed proudly.  I clap while she goes through the routine.  Then she smiles at me and jumps off the platform, sitting down next to me.  “That was fun!”

I’m about to tell her it’s her turn again when I realize the screen is flashing with a red X.  She’s bowled a strike.  “Congrats, babe.”  I kiss her and get up to take my turn.  I line myself up and get centered, and then I let the ball go and receive another strike.  Stormy is waiting for me, her ball already in her hands.  She’s practically vibrating with excitement and I can tell she’s legitimately enjoying this.  “Are you ready?”

She nods and prances up to the line.  “Hell yeah.  I’m channeling Clapton, what can’t I do?”  Then she lets the ball fly with no real finesse.  It wobbles down the lane, heading for the right gutter when suddenly it swings back to the left and right into the 1 pin.  She’s gotten her second strike.  She looks over at me, clapping and hopping around.  “I’m awesome!”  I can’t help but catch her around the waist and pull her to me for a kiss. 

“You are beyond awesome.”

She grins and kisses me quickly.  “I’m legit.”

I laugh and let her go, retrieving my ball.  “Yes.  You are totally legit.”

I bowl another strike. 

Stormy takes her place and shifts back and forth, attempting to actually line herself up this time.  I’m standing behind her, pointing at which arrows she should be aiming for when her hip bumps into my zipper.  The noise that comes from the back of my throat is a muffled groan and she takes a step back, resting her entire ass against my crotch.  My dick jumps at the thought of sliding into her in this exact position and I take a step back, aware of how public we are.  There’s still only one other bowler and the woman at the register who is texting on her cell.  This place is also a hot spot in Studio City though so I know there are cameras all around us. 

Stormy ignores the fact that I’ve moved and takes two steps, swinging her right leg behind her left and I watch in awe as her ball stays straight and she earns her third strike. 

She looks over her shoulder at me and I can see the lust in her sky blue eyes.  She’s ready to strip me down right where we stand uncaring of who sees us.  I hold up a hand as she advances.  “No.  We’re finishing this game first.” 

She shrugs and hooks a finger into my belt loop as she passes me.  “I was going to suggest the bathroom.”

My eyes follow her, slightly glazed, as she dries her hands on the air blower connected to the ball return.  “Isn’t that unsanitary?”

She looks up at me, grinning.  “I can think of a few positions that wouldn’t be so bad.”

I discreetly press my palm to my jeans zipper, hoping to alleviate my problem.  Stormy glances down at my hand and then over to the red bathroom doors.  “I’m going to that bathroom, Josh.”  She moves closer to me and drops her voice, “I’m wet and all I can think of is your hard cock filling me up.”  She runs a hand down the front of my shirt, pausing as my abs flex beneath her touch.  “If you aren’t there in 2 minutes I’m cumming without you.”  She turns and leaves, her strides purposeful as she heads to the bathroom.  She glances back at me as she pushes open the door and blows me a kiss. 

My eyes dart around the open room.  The man down near 30 is still bowling with single minded purpose.  The woman behind the counter is staring over at me with a smile.  When she looks to the left and then the right and then gives me a thumbs up I can feel the blood rush to my face.  I turn to face the bathroom door and mentally argue with myself.  Then I wonder how much time has passed and that I want to be deep inside Stormy when she comes.  I don’t want her reaching that high without me.

I shoot the lady behind the register a raised eyebrow and she nods, still smiling, tapping her fingers against the counter.  I’m across the hall and pushing past the red door before I can rethink this.  Stormy’s jeans are unbuttoned and her right hand is down the front.  She’s leaning her back against the gold flecked walls. Her left hand is pressed to the wall behind her and her eyes are staring straight at me.  My determined stride eats up the distance between us and I don’t stop until I have her pressed up against the wall, my knee between her legs, spreading her thighs apart.  I grab her wrist and pull her hand out from beneath her pants and I groan at how wet her fingers are.  I bring them to my mouth and suck them in one at a time. 

“You taste so fucking good.”  My words cause her to shiver and she drops down gently, rubbing herself against my leg.  “Do you need to cum, baby?”

She nods and gasps out a yes, her hands clutching the front of my shirt for leverage.  She grinds down hard and moans my name, her head falling forward to my chest.  I use one hand to cradle her ass, helping her find friction as she bucks against my thigh.  The other hand is pressed against the wall for balance. 

She’s panting and jerking back and forth and I lean my head down and whisper in her ear, “When you come, I’m going to turn you around and pull your pants down.  I’m going to spread those gorgeous legs of yours and bend you over ever so slightly.”  My tongue flicks against the shell of her ear and I feel her start to shake.  Then I add, “I’m going to make you beg for my cock.”  She shudders against me, pressing her mouth to the front of my shirt to stifle her moans.  “Will you beg for it, baby?”  She nods her head hard and nearly knocks into my chin.  “Now say my name.”  And as soon as my teeth latch onto her earlobe she stills against me and sobs out my name, her fisted hands shake against my chest and the denim material on my thigh is dampened. 

I give her a moment to come down and as soon as her fingers start to relax their grip I step back and with my hands on her shoulders I spin her around.  Her cheek is pressed flat to the wall and I roughly push her jeans down.  Her lace thong is practically useless at this point and it takes one hard yank at the side for it to rip down the seam.  I let it fall down around her knee and grab her by the hips, yanking her ass back. 

“Beg.”

I can see her profile as I unzip my pants and her eyes flutter as she says, “Josh.”

I push my jeans down my thighs along with my boxers.  “Not good enough.”  I take myself in my hand and press the head of my throbbing dick against her wet slit.  Using my grip I rub myself up and down, around her opening. 

“Oh fuck, Josh.  Please.”

I press only the tip inside her and withdraw as her hips try to move back towards me.  “Please what?  I want to hear you say it.”  My left hand grabs a hold of her hair while my right hand is wrapped around my shaft.  I pull her back by her hair until she opens her eyes to look at me. 

She stares deep into my eyes as she says, “I want to feel your cock in me.  Please, Josh.  Fuck me.”  She swallows tightly and licks her lips.  “I want you to make me come.”

At her last whispered please I lean forward and press my tongue past her parted lips at the same time I enter her.  My hand moves from my dick to grip her hip and I take a step forward, pressing her whole body against the wall.  She’s so wet and ready and her mouth tastes so amazing that I don’t realize how rough I’m thrusting against her until she starts gasping for air.  I loosen my grip on her hair and break the kiss, slowing the tempo as I shift into her slowly and swivel my hips, her ass pressed tight against my abdomen.  She’s chanting my name with every forward thrust and I bend my knees just a little, changing the angle.  My hand resting in her hair drops to her shoulder and I trail my palm down her arm to her hand.  I twine my fingers with hers and raise her arm up above up, pinning it to the wall.  My other hand sneaks forward over her hip and across her stomach.  She flinches as I pass by a particularly ticklish spot and then I dip my fingers lower until I capture her clit between my thumb and middle finger.  I grab the slick nub and twist with just enough pressure.  Stormy comes alive and starts moving back against me, fighting my hold on her. 

It’s a game at this point to see who can overpower whom and I always put up a struggle but ultimately let her win.  It makes her reward that much sweeter.  Finally her hand breaks free from mine and she presses both of her palms against the wall, leans forward, thrusting her ass higher in the air, and fucks me.  She’s sliding her pussy along my cock and I hang my head to watch as I enter her and retreat.  The sight of my cock covered in her juices and the way her ass slaps against me nearly makes me come just from watching.  I can tell she’s close because her shoulders are pushed back as if she’s racing for a finish line.  Her voice chants my name like a litany and the voices outside of the bathroom door invade my sex addled brain.   
  
I can faintly make out a woman’s voice saying, “Oh, it’s out of order.”   
  
A second woman’s voice chimes in, closer this time, “Maybe we can use the one in the club.”  
  
Stormy, caught up in the moment and totally ignorant of the near miss, throws her head back, neck straining, and opens her mouth.  I let go of her hip with my right hand and slap my palm against her mouth.  Her words are unintelligible as she quakes against me, strung out syllables are moaned into the flat of my hand.  Then her teeth find the fleshy part of my palm right under my thumb and she bites down.  It’s my turn to press my lips tight together and muffle the drawn out moan that rises up from my throat as my balls tighten and I lose myself inside of her.   
  
Like dominoes Stormy collapses against the wall and I follow right behind, sandwiching her in place.  My dick is still twitching from my release and Stormy is still shaking and hitching out sighs here and there.  She laughs softly as our breathing returns to normal.   
  
“What’s so funny?”  I straighten and groan as I slip out of her heat.  I grab for some paper towels and wet them before wiping off my cock.  I toss them to the trashcan and pull up my boxers and jeans, zipping and buttoning them with hands that still haven’t quite recovered and shake involuntarily.  I return to the sink to wet a few paper towels to clean up the mess we’ve made that’s running down the backs of her thighs.  I get on my knees and gently wipe away any traces of us.   
  
“You’d think for screwing in a bathroom we would have been a little quicker.”  
  
I look around and smile, wadding up the paper towels and shooting for the trashcan again.  “I guess I forgot where I was for a minute.”  
  
She had expected this to be a quickie and she leans down and tears her thong off the rest of the way before pulling up her jeans and turning around to face me.  She crumples the lace in her hand and then reaches forward, putting her panties in my front pocket of my jeans.  She steps up to me and laces her hands behind my neck while I zip up her jeans and button them for her, my fingers stroking against her stomach.  “Next time can we put those mirrors to use?”  She glances to the side behind the partition and I catch our reflection.  I can’t help but grin at her as I rub my nose against hers. 

“What makes you think there’ll be a next time?” 

She grins and lets go of me, stepping around me to get to the door.  She pulls it open and comes up short at the yellow caution tape that’s stretched across the opening.  She lets out a hoarse laugh and looks back at me. 

I raise my hands and shake my head.  “Don’t look at me.”

We duck under the tape and step around the out of order sign propped up in the entrance.  We both look over at the woman behind the counter, her nose buried deep in a book as she pretends to not notice we’ve just come out of the bathroom.  The women from earlier are nowhere in sight and the man on 30 has left.  We return to our lane just as a raucous party of teens comes in and make their way over to a lane one over from ours. 

One of the girls keeps staring over at us and I turn my back, ignoring her.  I’m still riding my high from coming inside of my woman; I’m not interested in having my afterglow dulled to sign a bowling alley menu.  I hear the girls whisper and Stormy grabs her bowling ball and steps up to the line.  She wiggles her butt enticingly and winks over her shoulder at me before bowling a split.  Then she turns around and grins and gestures me over.  “Wanna show me how to pick up a spare?”

I can’t help but laugh and wrap my arms around her as her ball comes back up the shoot.  “For you, anything.”  After 7 more frames she beats me by 20 points.  And she is a pro at picking up spares.


	8. Riding the Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April 2018 - Josh takes Stormy to Hawaii for her birthday where they have a little surfing fun.

**Josh  
**

There are very few days when I’m in Hawaii that I don’t head down to the beach with my board.  It’s the peaceful moment of taking time to myself out of a crazy schedule I have no control over and becoming one with mother nature.  This morning the sun is just peeking out from over the horizon and Stormy is taking in the scenery from the passenger seat of the Jeep.  The way she looks around us and lets these sweet little gasps escape reminds me that this is her first time on the islands.

The lush greenery coupled with the ocean air provides a wonderful contrast and I can tell she’s itching to get back to our hotel room and write about it.  Right now she probably has half a page of dialogue running through her mind, her characters talking to each other like she isn’t even there.  Once when we were a little too stoned she had confessed that sometimes she felt like a voyeur.  Like she was eaves dropping on an intimate moment between two or more people.  Then she had smiled and winked at me and said it was the best job ever.

I tend to disagree with her.  While she loves to write characters into existence, I enjoy bringing them to life physically.  My name is Josh Hutcherson and I’m an actor.  It’s been years since the Hunger Games series was released and my celebrity status has leveled out for the most part.  We are vacationing to celebrate Stormy’s thirty second birthday.  When she had told me she had never been to Hawaii I had been devastated on her behalf.  Then I had immediately booked our trip.  The truth is even if it hadn’t been her birthday I would have whisked her away to the islands.  My feeling was that everyone should vacation here at least once in their life.

We pull up to the beach access road and she turns to me.  Her hair is pulled back in a sloppy bun and her wet suit top is molded to her torso.  “This is amazing, Josh.”  She leans towards me and places a hand at the back of my head, directing my lips to meet hers.  The instant our lips touch my whole body clenches with desire.  Her fingers tighten in my hair and her lips slant across mine, our tongues sliding against each other. 

I break the kiss first because if I don’t I’ll have her bikini bottoms pushed aside while I surge into her in plain view for anyone to see.  She smiles and sighs and loosens her hold on my head, instead ruffling her fingers softly through my hair.  I’m about to say fuck it and grab her close when she lets go of me and turns around on the passenger seat on her knees.  Her fingers are busy at work loosening the straps holding down our surfboards.  “I can’t wait to get out there.  I’ve never even imagined surfing these waves.”  I know she’s surfed the waves off the west coast plenty of times.  We live in Hollywood Hills, a little over an hour from Malibu beach, and we try to make it out to the water at our favorite surf site at least once a week. 

It’s hard for me to imagine that we’ve been dating for four years and I didn’t know she had never been to Hawaii.  It makes me wonder what else I don’t know about her.  My surfboard is tucked under my arm and I watch as she hefts hers a little higher above her head, her converse kicking up sand as she strides up the sandy pathway that leads to Canoes, a beach known for gentler waves on Oahu’s south shore.  It’s not long before she’s looking back at me with a wide smile.  She laughs and sets her board down and then kicks off her shoes.  She’s practically vibrating with energy, her blue eyes dancing with excitement.  “Come here.”  I set my board beside hers and reach out with one arm.  I settle my arm around her shoulder and pull her into my side, taking a moment to just stare out at the sunrise.  Her body goes lax and she shifts her weight against me, resting for a moment.  I know it won’t last long though and her level of energy is just one of many things that appeals to me. 

When Stormy put her mind to something she didn’t stop until she had conquered it.  But then her body straightened and she turned to me, her hand sliding down the front of my rash guard shirt, over my abs and down to the green and black Quiksilver board shorts I was wearing.  Her hand stopped against my dick and she gently caressed her fingers along my flaccid length.  I began hardening immediately under her skilled hand.  “Storm.”  I narrowed my eyes at her even as she wrapped her hand around my shaft through the material of my shorts.  I groaned low in my throat and stared down into her wide blue eyes.  She leaned forward and slid her lips along my jaw, my arm tightening around her in reflex.  The tips of her fingers played against the head of my cock and I closed my eyes and exhaled loudly. 

“Josh,” she whispered near my lips.  “Have you ever fucked on a wave?”

I growl low in my throat and thrust my hips forward just the tiniest bit.  I can imagine her laid out on my baby blue longboard, golden skin glistening in the sun.  Her legs parting to fall on either side of the board, knees spread and feet in the water.  I grab her arm with my free hand and pull her close, my lips crashing down on hers.  My teeth sink into her lower lip and I suck the wet flesh into my mouth.  The hitch in her breath alerts me that her bottoms are probably wet and my dick is twitching at the chance of sliding into her.

Her hand drops from my straining erection and I break the kiss, breath heaving as I stare down at her.  “No, I’ve never fucked on a wave.”  Then I lean down and grab my board, leaving hers behind as I pull her along with me down toward the water.  “But I am today.” 

Stormy laughs as her feet kick up sand trying to keep up with my determined stride.  I feel like if I don’t sink into her warm heat in the next few minutes my balls will explode.  I know it’s not possible but that doesn’t make the situation any less dire.  I pull her around in front of me as we hit the water.  She looks up at me laughing, “Josh.”  She leans toward me and places a hand against the side of my face.  “Do you need me to paddle out?”  Her eyebrows are raised and I know she’s just as affected as I am because even though her lips are tilted up at the corners in a teasing smile, her body is fairly vibrating with need.  I nod for her to take the board and she wades waist deep before jumping up to lay on her stomach on the deck of the board.  She immediately begins to paddle, the nose facing out and her hands holding onto the rails, as I use long strokes to keep up with her stride.  She stops out in the middle of the ocean, I can still see the emblem on her board sitting on the beach which means we’re out just far enough. 

There’s a surfer far to the right of us and two people are laying out on the beach down the shore to our left.  I know in an hour this beach will have more surfers but for now it’s as empty as it’s going to get.  Stormy uses her hands and pulls herself to the middle of the board, sliding into a sitting position.  I come around beside her and grab onto her knee with my hand.  I place my other hand on the opposite edge of the board and hoist myself up.  The board floats but the water laps at the center as I settle my weight facing her.  She lifts her legs and places them over my thighs, reminding me of the spider position on a swing set. 

Her hands are already reaching for me and I groan out loud, uncaring of who might hear as she unties the strings at the front of my shorts.  Her fingers peel back the wet Velcro and her hand dips down to wrap around the shaft of my half hard cock.  My lips tighten as her palm glides against my flesh, my toes curl in the water below us.  “Fuck, Storm.”  My hands reach out to her bottoms covering her pussy. I hook two fingers around the material there and pull her forward, the back of my knuckles brushing up against her opening.  She moans my name and lifts her hips to rub against my skin.  I press my middle knuckle against her as her hand  tightens around my dick.  I lean my head back and groan out loud, her thumb making sweeping motions against the head of my cock. 

Then she pushes forward and bumps the back of my finger as she presses the back of her thumbnail against the bundle of nerves under the head of my cock.  I surge forward, careful of our balance and I’m on top of her in moments.  Her hand comes out from my shorts and joins her other hand in pushing my board shorts down far enough for my cock to spring free.  My fingers pull her bottoms aside and then I’m sliding into her, right into home.

Her hands grab onto my ass and hold me tightly to her, as deep as I can go, as she bucks up against me.  Her head turns and her teeth latch on to my forearm.  She’s riding my dick as hard as she can, hips tilted at an angle that causes me to bump into that magical spot inside her.  She’s chanting my name through her teeth clenched against my flesh and her nails are marking half crescents into my rear, her knees locking me in place.  I couldn’t move my hips if I wanted to so I lean down against her and let her take control, enjoying the ride as her wet cunt tightens around my cock.  Her neck strains as her chanting becomes a high keening and her legs begin to shake against my sides.  She releases my arm and her right hand lets go of my ass, her left hand clenched in place as she continues to slam her hips up into me.  Her fingers grab onto my hair and pull my face down to her lips. 

She has confessed to me once or twice before that when she comes she likes to kiss me.  She enjoys the sound of my name echoing through my mouth.  Her tongue slides against mine and she’s moaning unintelligible words over and over.  I finally slant my mouth over hers and swallow my name as she pulls on my hair, her slick walls tightening against my shaft.  I can’t help but whisper her name back to her as she settles against me.  Finally her grip on me loosens and I can move my hips against her.  I can feel the small aftershocks that travel through her to me, her legs twitch in repletion against my sides, falling open to hang over the sides of the board.  I desperately want to grab her right leg and fling it over my shoulder to open her up to me even wider but I’m afraid I’ll topple us and I can’t take that risk.  Her safety is what matters above all else.

Instead I break away from her mouth and slide my lips across her cheek.  Her neck tilts to the side for me and I suck at the skin there.  My teeth dig in slightly as I slick my tongue across her captured flesh.  She’s meeting me thrust for thrust and the tingling feeling at the base of my spine spreads as she rhythmically squeezes my ass with her hand.  Suddenly her hand is gone from behind me and she reaches between us to where we’re joined.  At first I shift my hips back a little because I’m sure she’s close and probably reaching down to rub at her clit but then I feel her fingers slide against my cock at her opening.  I’m slick with her juices and she opens her index and middle fingers in a V shape against my shaft.  The added pressure of her fingers right there and the slick warmth of her pussy combine to make one hell of a happy ending.  My teeth tighten against her neck, making sure not to break the skin and my lips vibrate against her as I moan out my release.  I collapse against her, shimmying the board a little underneath us and turn my head, panting into her ear.  Stormy’s hand is still between us playing in our combined juices.  After my breathing has evened out she turns her face to the side to press a kiss to my parted lips.  I smile at her, my eyes blinking lazily, struggling to stay open and focused on her. 

She wiggles her hand out from between our bodies and brings her fingers to her lips.  She closes her eyes as she rubs the tip of a finger across her bottom lip and then moans as her tongue connects with the taste of us together.  I move a little closer and press my lips to hers, the tangy salty taste on her lips nothing new to me, but as thrilling as always.  Her hand drops to the edge of the board into the water and the ocean washes away a small piece of us.  My dick is soft inside of her and I groan at the thought of pulling out.  She’s so warm and snug and perfect and I can’t imagine being anywhere else.  She runs her hands up and down the back of my rash guard and rubs her cheek against mine.  “I love you, Josh.”

I turn my face to the side and press my lips to hers.  “I love you, too, Stormy.”  I press my nose to her neck where there’s still a faint mark from my teeth.  I don’t bother looking at my arm, I know she’s probably broken the skin there.  It’s not the first time and I hope to hell it’s not the last.


	9. Role Reversal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oct 2018 - Stormy pretends to be me.

**Josh**

I come out of the bathroom, my toothbrush dangling from the corner of my mouth, and stare out at Stormy where she sits in the middle of the bed in nothing but the white v neck I had just discarded onto the floor.  She has a habit of sleeping in my shirts after I’ve worn them all day.  I don’t mind it much, it just gets to me sometimes because I sleep totally nude and I’d prefer if she did too.  

Thankfully she forgoes anything on the bottom half so I can forgive her pretty easily.

Currently she’s resting on her knees in the center of the bed watching the final minutes of the Giants game on TV.  A touchdown is scored and her arms raise in victory, pulling my shirt up a little and revealing the bottom curve of her ass.  I turn back towards the sink and spit the toothpaste out, rinse the sink, toothbrush and my mouth and then glance at myself in the mirror, running my tongue across my teeth, flashing a winning smile.

I’ve been slated to play a darker version of The Riddler in a revamp of the Batman series and I’m excited for the challenge of a more dramatic role.  Stormy is excited because we’re going to film in New York and her and Driver get to come along.  She also has an affinity for comic books that I didn’t find out about until after we started dating.  

I walk out of the bathroom, stripping my boxer briefs off on my way to the bed and I tackle Stormy in a side lunge.  She squeals as she twists and turns, trying to break free of my hold.  I press my fingers to the ticklish spot right inside her thigh and she laughs heartily, squirming closer to me and shifting her legs against mine.  Her knee gently strokes across my cock and I groan and clasp her ass, bringing her in closer, the tickling session forgotten just like that.

I part her cheeks and stroke a finger down between her thighs from behind relishing in the arch of her body as she strains to get closer to me.  Her folds press against my thigh and I grip her hip with one hand, directing her to rub against me.  Her hand reaches down between us and grips my hardened shaft, giving it a few preliminary jerks before she points it at her entrance and we’re caught off guard, panting heavily and shaking with anticipation, when Driver starts barking and the doorbell echoes through the house.

I know what it is and Stormy’s eyes light up as she pushes me away from her.  She scrambles off the bed and yanks on my discarded boxers before rushing from the room, hollering for the courier that she’s coming and I wish it was in more ways than one.  I listen to a brief exchange of words and then the door slams and her footsteps skip down the hall on the hardwood floors.  Driver bolts into the room first and barks excitedly as Stormy swings through the door with a flat box in her hands.  She’s jumping around, shaking the box in front of her and her face looks like a kid on Christmas.  

I hold out my hands and she clutches it protectively to her chest, eyes suddenly narrowing on me.  “Are you going to let me see?”

I shake my head, sitting up on the bed, comfortable in my nudity.  “You know I can’t.”

She sighs heavily and runs her hands over the brown package.  “I don’t think you understand, Josh.  Batman has been my favorite superhero for as long as I can remember.  I’m pretty sure I need to read this script.”

I roll my eyes and lean back against the headboard.  She knows better than to ask but I remember the day I came home and told her I got the part of Edward Nigma; she had fallen to her knees and given me a celebratory b.j. for a job well done.

Stormy uses sex as a celebration whenever she can and I never complain because sex and her love are the two greatest gifts she could ever give me.  I curl my fingers toward her in a suggestive ‘come here’ motion.  She huffs a puff of air up towards her unruly bangs and tosses the script onto the bed, inches from my knee.  I reach forward and scoop it up, tearing into the package and shaking the thick booklet of paper out into my hand.  I flip through it, skimming bits and pieces of dialogue and the grin that contorts my face is filled with genuine happiness.

I look up at Stormy and realize she’s moved over to the dresser.  I have a metallic tray with spokes rising up from it that she teasingly refers to as my jewelry tree and I cock my head in curiosity as her fingertips flick a few of the bracelets dangling off of it.  Finally she picks one with multicolored beads and slides it onto her wrist.  It’s closely followed by an elastic one with hemp knotted around it and then two friendship bracelets I have collected along the way.

I can’t remember the first one I got - what it looked like or who it was from - but wearing them in public had become a signature of mine and soon fans would give them to me at various tapings or red carpet events and I would come home and pile them on top of this “jewelry tree”.  

I had a shoebox full of them under the dresser and sometimes Stormy would dump them all out and pick out a couple for me to wear depending on my outfit and where I was going.  She once said someone somewhere would notice if I wore something that had been made by them and since she was rarely wrong I went along with it.  It also amused her that I was fast approaching my mid 20’s and I still wore colorfully woven friendship bracelets.  She told me they were hot as hell for some reason she couldn’t pinpoint.  I couldn’t argue with that.  

But now as I watched her slide them onto her wrists I couldn’t help but think of how goofy they looked.  I laughed as she turned her arm this way and that, eyeing her handiwork.  “What are you doing over there?”

Her voice was deeper than usual, pitched low as she replied, “Uh, I’m Josh Hutcherson and I wear bracelets.”  She arched a brow towards me and grabbed my Reds hat from where it hung on a post near the edge of the dresser top.  She slung it on backwards and affected a pose, dangling her arms down by her sides and then pretending to scratch her nonexistent nuts with her right hand.  I grabbed a pillow from her side of the bed and flung it across the room at her.  

“I don’t sound like that.”

Her eyes widen and she giggles, catching the pillow before tossing it back.  She clears her throat to do another impersonation of me, “What’s up, bro?  I’m Josh but my homies call me J-Hutch.”

I sink down into the bed, putting the script on the bedside table near the alarm clock.  I hitch my voice a little higher and say, “Oh, Joshie.  Aren’t you the funniest most coolest guy ever?”

She shakes her head to the left and shrugs, a move I recognize as something I’ve done before in interviews, before pursing her lips and says in a shitty facsimile of me, “Yeah, well, you know all the ladies love my cock.”

I blink my eyes coquettishly and giggle, imitating her as I fire back, “It’s because it’s so big.  How do you fit it all into those tight pants you wear?”

She struts to the side of the bed, ridiculous and adorable, silly and fuckable all at once.  She leans over me and presses a knee to my thigh, hitching herself up to where she straddles my legs and then caresses my bare hip with the flat of her palm.  “You mean my pajama jeans?”  My mouth opens on an affronted gasp as I grab the front of the white v-neck hanging loose on her chest.  

I pull her down to me and pressed my mouth to her cheek as I say, “Take that back.  I haven’t worn those in years.”

She moans as I trail my mouth across her cheek and capture her earlobe between my lips.  I suck and then scrape my teeth against the sensitive flesh and her hips bump forward.  

“I regret nothing.”  Her whisper strikes me at the same time her hand wraps around my cock.  I lift my hips to her forceful grip and groan as she tightens her hold on an upstroke, her thumb rubbing the curve of the head and then she spreads the moisture from the tip in a line down my shaft.  

“Unh, Stormy.”  My hands move to her hips and I’m about to shift my weight so she’ll be beneath me but she stops me by pressing her thumb against the bundle of nerves on the lower edge of my dick.  “Fuuuuuuck.”  I tip my head back into the pillow and thrust into her grip in quick jerks.  

She commands my attention as she firmly states, “I want to be on top.”  I nod quickly, riding a wave of unspeakable pleasure as she cups my balls in her free hand and rolls them deftly against her palm.

My grip on her sides move up to the waistband of my boxers and I yank them down, hinting to her that they need to come off now.  She lets go of me long enough to get up, my hands grasping her ankles to steady her as she stands above me and pushes my boxers down her hips, past her spread knees, to bunch around her ankles.  She lowers herself back down until her juicy lips plump against the crown of my erection.  

I want to taste her but she’s feeling needy and doesn’t bother with any other stimulation.  Instead she sinks down onto me and says, “Remember the first time we did this?”  She pauses as I’m rooted deep in her and she shudders as her eyes roll back.  “Fuck, you feel good.”

My hands are on her thighs, holding the material of the hem of my shirt up so I can see where we’re joined.  My mouth opens as I suck in air, watching my shaft glide in and out of her hungry cunt.  I attempt to respond to her when she leans forward and rakes a hand through the small patch of chest hair between my pecs.  She presses down with her palm to steady herself, changing positions; arching her back, hips picking up the tempo, I wrap my arms around her and flatten her torso to mine.  My hands grip opposite sides of her torso as I use my hold on her as leverage to thrust up into her.  She stills over me, her breathing heavy as her lips press to my neck.  I thrust again and she emits the tiniest, sexiest moan.  A little harder and she forces herself to counter my movement and meets me halfway.  It’s my turn to moan.  Again and we lock together and she says, “Right there, Josh.”

I keep my hips pressed tight to her as she moves her hips side to side in search of something.  I can tell when she finds it because she holds her breath and her insides twitch against my cock.  I whisper, “There?”

Her groan answers me and without pulling out I flex up into her and she bites my shoulder as she whimpers.  Her breath comes in pants against the edge of my collarbone and then I do it again and her teeth clamp down a little harder as she keens.  I can feel the flutter begin inside of her and with a few more pushes up into her she’s clawing at my sides and coming and there’s a flood of wetness against me.  

I stop thrusting but she cries out and shakes on top of me, jerking wildly in my arms, and her muscles constrict around me, holding me in place deep inside her.  

I’m trying to think of a polite way to ask her if she’s okay but she calms down enough to press her face to the side of my neck and place an open mouthed kiss there.  She can feel my curiosity coming off me in waves, as far as I know she’s never done that before, but she whimpers my name and begins to slowly ride me and I take that as a sign that she’s better than fine and I roll with her until she’s under me and I plunge into her.  The bill of my Reds cap that still sits on her head gets in her way so she grabs at it and flings it off the bed.  I push the white shirt up under her chin and lower my lips to a perky nipple.

I glide in and out of her smoothly as my teeth scrape against her tender flesh, she raises her knees to either side of me and with the newly adjusted angle she starts to chant, “Fuck, fuck, fuck-”  I lower my thumb to her drenched curls and touch the tip of my finger to her clit. She screams as my thumbnail presses down and she comes, wave after wave of her undulating pussy sucking me into her, holding me captive.  My balls tighten and I come inside her, plunging deep as my neck strains forward, my teeth clamped together to hold in any noise because I’d rather hear her as she loses herself.

Her groping hands pull me down, my weight resting directly on top of her.  Our heavy breathing and the background noise of the tv the only sounds in the room.  She blows out a slow breath before saying, “Sorry I drenched the bed.”

My lips curl into a grin and I turn my smile into her hair as I process her blunt words.  “Did you come?  As in that shit we’ve only seen in porno’s?”

Her head turns and she rests her chin on my shoulder, “Pretty sure you turned me into a squirter.”

My chest automatically puffs out as I reply, “You know I’m going to aim for that every time now.”

She laughs and runs her fingers up my sides to the feathery hair in my armpits.  She strokes the sweat matted curls until I flinch away from her touch because it starts to tickle.  Her fingers roam back down and around to my back where her palms flatten to the muscles and then glide down to my ass where her fingers dip into the crack before coming to rest on each solid ass cheek.  “I think I like the sound of that.”

I nuzzle into her hair and sigh, pulling the comforter at the end of the bed up and over us, creating a cocoon around our bodies.  I watch as her eyes float shut and then I place a kiss against her temple, letting her breathing lull me into sleep.

I whisper to her that I love her and hear her sleepy reply before we’re both out.

Tomorrow I leave to start filming an independent movie on the east coast and we’ll be apart for a couple of months.  But when I get back I’m going to talk to her about starting a family with me.  It’s time.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dec 2018 - A unique look into Stormy and Josh’s relationship from Driver’s pov.

**Driver**  
  
  
 _December 3, 2018_  
  
Last night mistress watched a commercial and she cried for almost an hour.  It was cute; it had lots of mommy animals cuddling with their baby animals.  At first when she started crying I got up from my spot in front of the fireplace and checked to see if she was okay.  She just patted my head and played with my ear, reaching for a tissue with her other hand.  I wished dad was home but he left a while ago and hasn’t been back yet.  I see him in the flat screen that mistress puts on the bed sometimes.  She cuddles with the pillows and talks to his face.  It confuses me.  I can see him and hear him and sometimes he asks me if I’m being a good boy but I can’t climb on his lap so I just ignore him.  I sleep on his side of the bed now and get to have mistress wrap her arms around me in the middle of the night.  She whispers my name and uses my side as a pillow and she always tells me that daddy will be back soon.  
  
He always comes back.  
  
I wish he would come back soon.  
  
Something is wrong with my mistress and I don’t know how to fix it.  
  
  
 _December 4, 2018_  
  
MISTRESS TOOK ME TO THE DOG PARK!  
  
I ran far and caught lots of frisbees.  I know what they are because mistress always says, “Get the frisbee, Driver!” as she flings it into the air.  I always catch it and bring it back, proud of myself because she rubs my face with her hands and kisses me between my eyebrows before taking it from me.  Sometimes I want to play tug and I don’t let it go easily.  Mistress doesn’t mind.  She grabs with both hands and holds on tight, letting me shake my head playfully.  
  
Today was different.  
  
Today when I wanted to play tug she just shook her head and said, “Not today, Driver.”  
  
We came home after that.  
  
Mistress says dad has been gone for 35 days.  11 more and he’ll be home.  
  
Mistress says this year we’ll get a real Christmas tree.  She stares at me a moment with her eyebrows arched high, giving me “that” look.  I mentally remind her that I was much younger the first time we had a real one.  It wasn’t my fault it smelled like a bunch of other animals.  It was my duty to mark it so everyone would know whose it was.  
  
I love Christmas because we get to open presents and then we get to go see grandma and grandpa.  They have lots of cold, wet stuff covering up their grass, to play in and grandma gives me cookies with sprinkles.  She gives me hugs and kisses too and she smells like love.    
  
Mistress smells like love too but she doesn’t give me cookies.  
  
She tells me we have to watch my weight.  
  
The doctor said now that I’m older and less active we have to watch to make sure I stay as fit as possible.  No more table scraps he said.  
  
I dislike him.  
  
Mistress cries again today but this time it’s a song on the radio in the car.  She slaps her hand against the knob to turn it off and she rubs her eyes with her hand at a stoplight.  
  
I think she might be sick.  
  
When we get home I stay close to her side.  It’s still daylight out but she crawls into bed and pats dad’s side to invite me up.  I curl as close to her as I can and put my head on her shoulder.  I watch her close her eyes and sniffle and I give her a kiss to make it feel better.  She snuggles into me and tells me she’s sorry she ended our trip to the park so soon.  She tells me she’ll play tug with me tomorrow.  Maybe we’ll go to the  beach.  
  
  
 _December 5, 2018_  
  
We don’t go to the beach.  Mistress doesn’t get out of bed.  I lay by her side all day and make use of the doggy door when I need to do my business.  
  
When dad isn’t here it’s my responsibility to take care of mistress.  He told me before he left with  
  
his duffel bag, “Okay, Driver.  I’m going to be gone for a little longer than usual.  It’s your job to take care of Stormy.  Can you do that for me, boy?”  
  
I had barked and nodded excitedly.  Mistress was one of my favorite people.  If something happened to her I would be very sad.  Of course I would take care of her.  
  
Dad had gotten down on his knees and hugged me tight, kissing my cheek and the top of my head.  He said, “I love you, be good while I’m gone.”  
  
I’m always good.  
  
Mistress only gets up to go to the bathroom.  
  
I’m scared but I try not to whine.  I’m a good boy.  
  
  
 _December 6, 2018_  
  
Mistress cried all morning and finally she called my other dad.  
  
“Andre?  I’m not feeling too good.  If you aren’t too busy could you come get Driver and take him to the park?”  
  
I hear other dad’s voice from the nightstand where he talks out of a speaker.  
  
“Sure, Storm, what’s going on?”  
  
“I think it’s just a bug.  I don’t want him to have to suffer too, though.”  
  
“No problem.  I’ll be over in an hour and we’ll go to the beach for a while.”  
  
“Thank you, Andre.  You’re the best.”  
  
Other dad laughs and says, “Now that I know.”  
  
They say bye and I run around excited.  I get to go to the beach.  I love the beach.  The sand feels neat on my paws and there are birds to chase and waves to play in and sometimes other dogs to run with.  Andre always brings lots of yellow fuzzy balls to play with in case we lose one or another dog decides he wants one.  I’m so happy!  I jump up and down and mistress laughs, her eyes crinkling at the corners.  She gets out of bed long enough to pack a beach bag with a towel, water bottles, my travel dish, a tube of balls and my car seat harness.  She takes many breaks and has to lean against a table, a wall, the counter.  
  
Andre comes and gets me.  I’m excited to see him and I really want to go to the beach.  
  
But I don’t want to leave mistress.  
  
She tells me not to get into too much trouble and waves at us as we get in the car and Andre buckles me in.  My eyes stay on her as we pull out of the driveway.  
  
The beach is fun and when we come home I’m exhausted.  Mistress is already asleep so Andre gives me fresh water and food and stares into the bedroom for a moment, watching mistress sleep.  He leaves the door open so I can go to bed when I’m done eating dinner and he goes into the living room and sits on the arm of the couch, pulling out his phone.  
  
He calls someone and I can only hear his side of the conversation.  
  
“Hey, man.  Busy?”  
  
-  
  
“Look, I don’t know if you’ve talked to Stormy lately-“  
  
-  
  
“I don’t know, there’s something wrong with her.  She called me today to come get Driver because she wasn’t feeling well.  We went to the beach and played but his heart wasn’t really in it.”  
  
-  
  
“She’s sleeping.  Do you want me to wake her up?”  
  
-  
  
“Okay.  Yeah, I’ll leave her a note.”  
  
-  
  
“Alright, brother.  Take it easy.”  
  
Andre writes a note and goes in the bedroom to put it on the nightstand.  He touches the back of his hand to mistress’s forehead and shrugs.  He pulls the blanket up around her and turns off the light above the bed.  He gives me a hug and tells me he had fun today.  He tells me to take good care of Stormy.  I wait for him to leave before I get on the bed and get comfortable.  I’m asleep in no time at all, worn out from my day.  
  
  
 _December 7, 2018_  
  
I wake up to the sound of mistress in the bathroom.  She’s crying and when I go see to her she’s sitting on the floor, her legs are sprawled out under her.  Her cheek is resting on the seat of the toilet and her hands are shaking.  I lay down in the doorway and watch her.  
  
She gets sick a lot and at some point she crawls into the shower and sits on the tile after turning on the water.  She shivers and pulls her knees up to her chest and rocks back and forth.  I watch her through the glass door.  Eventually she turns the water off and crawls back out of the shower, wrapping herself in a towel.  She lays down on the cold tile floor and curls onto her side.  She cries herself to sleep.  
  
I miss dad.  
  
  
 _December 8, 2018_  
  
During the night mistress moved from the bathroom to the bedroom and fell asleep on top of the blanket wrapped in her towel still.  
  
Her phone rings and she looks over at it but doesn’t even try to reach it or answer it.  She just closes her eyes and falls back asleep.  
  
I notice while I’m laying with my back pressed up against her back that she smells different.  
  
I get up and sniff at her hand, then her side and her stomach.  She weakly bats my nose away with her hand.  “Stop it, Driver.”  I ignore her and continue trying to find the smell.  I stop when she groans out my name as if she’s in pain.  I can’t pinpoint it but she smells like flowers and metal.  She doesn’t smell like love anymore.  
  
  
 _December 9, 2018_  
  
Other dad comes over early in the morning.  Mistress is still in her towel, curled into a ball near the foot of the bed.  She wakes up when he lifts her into his arms and carries her out of the room.  I don’t walk in front of him because I don’t want him to trip so I stay very close behind him.  
  
Mistress wraps her arms around him and weeps softly at being jostled.  She keeps saying she’s sorry and other dad looks very upset.  He keeps one arm wrapped around her as he grabs a pair of dad’s boots and stuffs her feet in them, not bothering with the laces.  Then he grabs dad’s coat and zips it up to her chin.  He picks her up in his arms and takes her outside, settling her gently into the backseat of his car.  
  
He points towards the door and tells me to go back inside.  “Come on, Driver.  You stay here.  I’ll be back as soon as possible.”  
  
I obey because he is my other dad and because I know the sooner I listen the sooner he can get mistress help.  
  
I watch him close and lock the door.  Then I am all alone.  
  
I lay down in the hallway and keep watch on the door.  
  
I am very scared but I am also brave and I will protect the house while they are gone.  
  
  
 _December 10, 2018_  
  
Other dad’s friend, Rob, comes over to make sure I have food and water.  I like Rob.  He takes me outside to play ball but I don’t want to.  
  
I want my mistress.  
  
Rob stays for a few hours and watches TV..  I sit beside him and he pets my head.  I put my chin on his knee and huff out a breath.  He tells me everything will be fine.  He tells me Stormy will be back tomorrow and that she probably misses me just as much as I miss her.  
  
I don’t think that’s possible.  
  
Rob is nice but he is not mistress and when he leaves I go to bed and rest my head against mistress’s pillow.  
  
I want my mistress.  
  
  
 _December 11, 2018_  
  
Mistress comes home and other dad holds on to her as he leads her over to the couch.  He fixes her tea while she settles into the cushions.  I wait patiently as she gets comfortable and then she reaches a hand out for me and I jump on the couch, my whole lower half wiggling back and forth.    
  
She laughs and grabs my collar, pulling me closer to her.  She wraps her arms around me and hugs me tight.  
  
“I missed you, D.  Were you a good boy?”  
  
Of course I was.  I explain this to her as I lick her face and she turns away, giggling. She looks very tired so I lay down after one last kiss and rest my face in her lap.  She still smells like flowers and metal but she smells of love as well.  
  
Andre offers to stay the whole day and she waves him off, her hand pressed against her stomach.  She says, “I’ll be fine. Thank you so much for everything, Andre.” He gives her the tea and she kisses him on the cheek. He leaves with the promise that he’ll be by to check in later and then we’re all alone in the empty house.  
  
I’m so happy to have mistress home.  
  
I still miss dad.  
  
  
 _December 12, 2018_  
  
Mistress took me for a walk today. She says dad will be home in 3 days and things are going to change.  
  
I don’t mind change.  When I was a puppy I almost died. Then dad adopted me. He went away for work a lot but Andre stayed home with me. We travelled a lot until dad adopted mistress too.  
  
Not all change is bad.  
  
She throws up once or twice a day but then she makes tea and eats crackers and she feels better. Sometimes she gives me a cracker and says, “Screw the vet. Life’s too short without table scraps.”  
  
I am glad my mistress is back.  
  
  
 _December 13, 2018_  
  
We wake up early and go for a morning jog. When we get home mistress drags me into the shower with her. She shuts the glass door before I can escape and then she makes me smell all clean. Afterwards she lets me out and then she showers. She tells me she wants me to smell clean for when dad gets home.  
  
For lunch she makes us peanut butter sandwiches and we sit in front of the fire.  It’s a real fire and she toasts marshmallows to put between Graham crackers.  She feeds me two and has one herself.  I am so happy to have my mistress back.  
  
For dinner she cooks soup and dances around the kitchen to the music from the speaker. I bark along while she sings into a wooden spoon. She stops once to throw up in the sink and after holding a wet cloth the back of her neck for a moment she eats a cracker and goes back to dancing.  When we sit on the couch I lay my head in her lap and she brings over the flat screen that dad is in.  
  
A few minutes later he is smiling at us and mistress is touching his face. She traces his jaw and his lips as he blows her a kiss.  
  
“How are you feeling?”  
  
“So much better. Driver is taking great care of me.”  
  
“I bet.” Dad laughs and I smile at the sound. They talk for a while and then dad says, “I can’t wait to be home.”  
  
Mistress smiles and blows him a kiss.  She picks up my paw and waves to dad.  “We can’t wait for you to be home.  Flight hasn’t changed?”  
  
“Nope. Still coming into LAX at 8pm.  Are you sure you’re okay to pick me up?  I can always grab a cab.”  
  
“Josh, I told you I’m doing better.  I’ll be there.”  
  
“As long as you’re sure.”  
  
They stare at each other in silence for a few minutes, studying each others faces.  
  
Dad speaks first and says, “I love you so fucking much,  Stormy.”  
  
Stormy claps and laughs and then puts her hands over her mouth to hold in the girlish squeal that anyone over the age of 30 should not be able to emit.  She lowers her hands and grins widely. “I love you too, Josh. More than anyone and anything ever.” I perk my ears at that but I understand she has to say that so she doesn’t hurt his feelings.  They say goodbye and then Stormy hugs me to her.  
  
“Tomorrow we’re going to the park.”  
  
I pick my head up and smile at her.  
  
I knew she loved me more.  
  
  
 _December 14, 2018_  
  
I woke up with the promise of going to the dog park. Mistress talked to me as she got dressed.  “Daddy’s coming home tomorrow!”  After we shared a poptart she grabbed my front paws and put them on her shoulders and we danced and laughed in the kitchen.  
  
We went to the park and ran around. People shouted at us and took our picture.  After playing frisbee and an exciting game of tug we leave to go get ice cream.  The place we go to has flavors for me too and we go to a bench nearby and sit.  More people take our picture and a stranger asks mistress if shes ready for dad to come home. She just smiles and waves and says she’s more than ready.  The stranger doesn’t get very close.  
  
I smell fear and believe he’s scared of me.  
  
I don’t know why. I lick my lips and stare intently at him.  I love strangers.  
  
He leaves suddenly and mistress laughs and kisses me.  
  
“Good boy, Driver.”  
  
I smile and finish my ice cream cone.  
  
  
 _December 15, 2018_  
  
Mistress sings all day.  
  
We play ball and run and I watch while she bakes cookies.  
  
Dad comes home today and we are both excited.  Today she smells like love and flowers and she doesn’t get sick at all.  
  
She leaves me at home and promises that when she gets back she’ll have dad with her.  
  
I watch through the window as she leaves.  I watch through the window until she comes back.    
  
When she comes home I see dad get out of the car first.  He grabs his duffel from the backseat and then puts his arm around mistress as they come to the front door.  
  
DAD IS HOME!  
  
I jump all around and he drops his bag and sits down on the floor to hug me and pet me. Mistress stands back, smiling, as I cover dad in kisses.  
  
He’s finally home and I can’t stop my excitement.  After a few minutes dad stands up and raises the front of his shirt to wipe off his face.  He thanks me for taking good care of mistress.  I smile, my tongue lolling to the side, as he traps mistress against the wall and kisses her.  I dance around them, excited and barking.  
  
Finally they both look down at me and I smile up at them as they laugh.  
  
After a late dinner, dad and mistress are sitting on the couch watching TV but also talking over the noise.  
  
“So, you’re feeling better? What was it-the flu? Andre told me it was pretty bad.”  
  
Mistress bites her lip and glances away.  Her fingers are playing with my ears.  “Actually there’s something I need to tell you.  It wasn’t the flu.”  
  
Dad leans away and looks down at me and then up at mistress. “What do you mean, not the flu? What’s wrong?”  
  
Mistress stops petting me and takes dad’s hand before putting it against her stomach where the smell of flowers is strongest.  “Congratulations, dad.”  
  
Dad’s jaw flexes and he swallows and he shakes his head.  “I’m going to be- We’re going to have- You’re pregnant?”  
  
Mistress laughs and nods, tears gathering in her eyes.  “Yes. Yes. And yes.”  
  
Dad laughs and grabs mistress under her arms then he stands up with her and picks her up. Mistress wraps her arms around his neck and he carries her to the bedroom, shutting the door in my face before I can catch up.  
  
I smile as I stare at the door. I can hear them laughing and talking and I am happy that my family is all together again.  
  
I lay down in the hallway and rest.  
  
Today has been an exciting day.


	11. Baby Names and Camping Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August 2019 - I tell Josh what I've decided on.

I turn my head against his chest, rubbing my cheek across the fine cotton of his white shirt where his heart beats steady and true.  The crickets that came out in early spring chirp softly in the background while Driver’s snores fill the air in the tent.  

****

“Do you think we’ll be good parents?”

****

Josh’s fingers still on my arm and I wait for his practiced response.  I’ve asked him this question many times over the course of our pregnancy and each time he tells me he thinks we be’ll great parents.

****

This time he takes too long to answer, the reply not immediate but rather thought out.

****

“I think...”  My hand rests along the defined lines of his abdomen and I feel him inhale deeply.  “I think it’s going to be a lot of work.”  His fingers tap my arm as if he’s still ruminating so I let him, staying quiet while he chooses his words carefully.  This is the first time he’s strayed from his normal answer and I’m caught in suspense at what he might say.  “I don’t know if we’ll be good.  I hope so.  I hope we don’t totally fuck this up.”  He stops tapping and begins stroking again.  “I think you’re going to be an amazing mom.  Insightful and loving and accepting no matter what.  She - or he - is going to be lucky to have you around.”

****

“She.”

****

“Or he.”

****

I playfully tickle my nails along the deep ridge delineating his abs.  “She’s a girl, Josh.”

****

“Hey.”  There’s laughter in his voice as he wiggles next to me and I let him rest by ceasing the tickle session.  He turns his face to press his lips against my forehead and he stays there, speaking against my eyebrow.  “Just because you had a dream that the nursery was painted pink doesn’t mean it’s a girl.”

****

“That’s not why I think she’s a girl.”  I sit up and stare down at him, my belly heavy with our first child.  We could have found out the gender months ago but we chose to be surprised.  Josh has made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t care what we’re having, he just wants to be a dad.  I move to my knees and carefully lean over, straddling his waist.  His hands immediately move to cup my belly protectively as his thumbs sweep back and forth across my stretched skin.  I take a moment to appreciate the care and love he continues to show me and finish my sentiments from before.  “She’s a girl because I can feel her.”  I place both of my hands over one of his and move it up the side of my stomach to a hard lump before pressing down gently.  “This is her little foot.”  I let go and take his other hand and move it down to the underside of my overgrown belly.  “And this is her hand.”  Suddenly she kicks and I wince through a chuckle.  “And that is her saying hello.”

****

Josh grins and leans upward to place his lips against the stretched material of his henley that covers my upper body.  “Hi, sweet girl.”

****

I release his hands to run my fingers through his dark hair.  “Hey, babe?”

****

He looks up at me, eyes full of love and devotion and I sigh and relax, scooting my butt back until I rest on his thighs.  “We should discuss names soon.”

****

“I can’t believe we only have three more weeks.”

****

I look around the inside of the tent we’ve set up in the back yard.  “You know this is the last time we’ll be able to go camping without worrying about another person.”

****

Josh’s eyes widen as he takes that in and then his hands lower from my belly to the waistband of the borrowed boxers slung low on my waist.  His fingers find their way through the easy access hole in the front and he brushes a knuckle through the curls at the apex of my thighs.  “Then I guess we should make it count.”

****

I catch his wrist in a tight grip, holding him off so I can get an idea out.  “I was thinking about Lizzy.”

****

Josh’s hand goes completely still, his index finger pressing on my outer lips and his middle finger frozen against my core.  “You what?”

****

I loosen my hold on him and instead stroke my fingers along his forearm.  “I think we should name her Lizzy.”

****

His eyes immediately fill with tears and I can feel as well as hear the hitch in his breath as he blinks up at me.  “Lizzy?”

****

I bite my lip and nod, sure and comfortable in my decision.  I brush my hand against his hip where her name is forever etched into his skin.  “Do you think that would be okay?”

****

He moves his free hand up to his face and covers with eyes with his wide palm, shoulders shaking as emotion swells inside him.  I continue to pet him, lending him my support.  After a few moments he wipes his eyes and drags his hand down his face before taking me in again.  “I think Lizzy would be perfect.”  

****

I lean down to kiss him, our little Lizzy nestled safely between us as Josh’s lips convey his feelings and his fingers start to move against me again.  His chuckle is sudden and I pull back, hands on either side of his head to keep from collapsing on top of him, an unasked question in my eyes.  

****

His voice is filled with laughter as he answers, “Mona is going to be so pissed.”

****

I giggle and roll my eyes; playfully acknowledging my best friend who has unsuccessfully tried to talk us into naming our baby after her.  “Mona will get over it.  Chad will talk some sense into her.”

****

Josh’s fingers part my folds and his middle finger rubs up and down against my swollen lips.  Every part of me shivers in anticipation as I close my eyes and try to steady my breathing.  His voice is a whisper in the night, nearly lost among the sounds of nature and the dog who is fast asleep beside us, but I hear him clearly as he says, “I love you.  More than anything in the world.”

****

I gasp as his deft fingers find a way inside of me, stretching me wide and filling me up.  Just like his unending love.

 

-End-


	12. My Heavy Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N This was supposed to be the last future fic before the epilogue but I didn’t post it because I thought they deserved a happier ending. So technically none of this happened.
> 
> Band of Horses - No One’s Gonna Love You

New York was only a couple thousand miles from Los Angeles but it may as well have been on another planet. Stormy rolled over in bed and stared up at the gilded ceiling with the 24 karat gold inset that shown too brightly even in the dark. Cars rushed by outside the windows and Josh’s soft snores were the only other sound in the room. In less than a month they would be in Africa. That part didn’t worry her much.

The reason Stormy couldn’t sleep had nothing to do with her upcoming trip and everything to do with the man laying next to her. Josh rolled over in his sleep and hooked an arm across her stomach. He sleepily whispered her name and pressed his stubbled cheek to her back, burrowing closer.

Stormy held her breath and didn’t move, hoping if she stayed still he would let go and roll back the other way. The smell of whisky escaped his parted lips and the tears welled up in her eyes against her permission. 

Lately Josh had been more interested in finding out what was at the bottom of a bottle and less interested in spending time with her. They had arrived in New York five days ago and each day she went off into the city by herself while Josh headed to work. He had a bit part in a movie and his schedule was a quick 10 day shoot. Unfortunately, each long day of work turned into a longer night of drinking and Stormy was unsure of how she was going to cope with another five days let alone one.

While Josh had been down at the bar last night, drinking away whatever demons had snuck up on him from this latest role, Stormy had been busy calling Andre. After a quick rundown of these latest events Andre had agreed to come to New York and take her place as Josh’s babysitter. 

Because that’s what she was. Every night since their arrival she ventured down to the hotel bar to retrieve Josh. He always came willingly, following her into the elevator. But that was where his agreeable nature stopped. After she got him into the room and the doors closed behind them, his hands would explore and his mouth would turn rough and although she never said no to his advances, she never said yes either.

Josh’s liquor consumption kept him from operating at 100% and once they made it to the bed she didn’t have to worry. Once she got him horizontal it didn’t take long for him to succumb to his heavy head and sleep. 

The first morning after she tried to broach the subject with him and he groaned his way through a shower and breakfast. The second morning he apologized for being out of his element and promised it wouldn’t happen again. On the third morning he blamed her for not knowing how to have fun. She stopped confronting him. She didn’t want him to eventually say something that couldn’t be taken back.

Josh finally released a heavy breath and let go of her before rolling back to his own side. Stormy exhaled quietly and extracted herself from the bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping man beside her. Her jeans were stiff and uncomfortable from sleeping in them and her shirt was bunched up to the side and she straightened it as she stood. 

Andre would be here in half an hour and she wasn’t ready to leave Josh here but she knew it was for the best. Stormy moved around the room on light feet and packed her suitcase while Josh continued to snore into his pillow. 

She was waiting by the front door, ready to intercept his knock, when Andre arrived. He acknowledged the morose ambiance of the room and pulled her into a hug. ”It’s gonna be okay, baby girl.”

Stormy could feel the tears threatening to spill over so she swallowed the emotion back and nodded curtly. ”I know. I think he just got caught up in the role and can’t let it go. I just - I don’t know how to deal with this.” A swift shake of her head and she admitted, “I can’t.”

Andre patted her back comfortingly. ”Well, I’m here now.”

"I see that. Why are you here, though?"

Both Andre and Stormy turned to stare at Josh as he padded barefoot into the living room of the suite, his boxers the only article of clothing keeping him decent. He rubbed a hand against his tousled hair and squinted at the couple standing by the door, luggage piled around them. ”Well?”

Stormy bit her lip and stepped back, letting Andre step in front of her protectively, something that Josh immediately noticed. “Wait.” His eyes lit on the red suitcase beside the door. He looked at her incredulously as he tossed out the accusation, “You’re leaving!” Anger crept from the set of his jaw to his cheekbones and up to his eyes, hardening them as he stared her down, “You know I’m having a hard time with this role and you’re just going to abandon me? Seriously, Stormy?” Josh’s lips twisted in disgust. “You’re pathetic.”

Andre gasped and stepped forward, “Josh! How can you-“

Stormy was already grabbing her beanie from the back of the couch and pulling on her sweatshirt. “Its okay, Andre. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before.” He’d called her a lot worse two nights ago when she had locked herself in the bathroom and refused to come out until he settled down. Then it was the slurred complaint that she should loosen up and be, “My own private porn star. Afterall, you did it for Adam.”

She had curled up in the bathtub and cried through the hurtful words, upset at herself for leaving her phone on the nightstand where it did her no good. 

Stormy let the tears come, uncaring of what happened now. She leaned over and tugged on one boot then the other before zipping them and focusing on Andre. “His schedule is next to the coffee maker. I’ll call you when I land.”

She grabbed her suitcase and left without another word.

As she crossed the lobby, her head down to hide the agony she was going through, she heard a pair of bare feet slapping against marble but she kept walking. He called her name once as the doorman opened the door for her exit. But it wasn’t until she was safely outside and away from the temptation to stay that she was able to find him with her eyes.

Stormy looked back at Josh, tears rolling down her reddened cheeks. The cold winter wind slapped at her face, stinging her eyes and forcing her to blink away the blurry image of his silhouette against the window. With a raised hand she hailed a passing cab. And with a heavy heart she walked away from her everything.


End file.
